The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is calling the Upper Iowa River a success story

Posted: Sun, Jan 19, 2020 3:54 PM

The Upper Iowa River is noted for its exceptional water quality and stellar outdoor recreation opportunities. Still, native freshwater mussels were struggling to survive in the river - until a local effort stepped in to make major changes on the land. That effort is now being recognized as a water quality success story by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

In 2002, three segments of the river landed on the impaired waters list. With increasing amounts of soil washing in, the river was struggling to support the native freshwater mussels living in its waters.

Concerns about water quality in two coldwater trout streams that feed the river--Coldwater and Pine creeks--as well as in the Upper Iowa River itself, led to the creation of the Coldwater/Pine Creek Watershed Project in 2006.

The partnership effort, based out of the Winneshiek County Soil and Water Conservation District in Decorah, worked with almost 50 landowners to adopt conservation practices on their land that would help protect and improve water quality. Landowners and farmers installed grassed waterways, filter strips, cover crops, streambank protection and more practices to slow erosion and filter runoff before it could enter the streams.

"Even more than a decade later, most of these practices are still in place, demonstrating the commitment of the landowners to conservation," said former Coldwater/Pine Creek Project Coordinator Corey Meyer.

As a result, there's now about 6,223 fewer tons of sediment reaching the river each year, enough to fill 415 dump truck loads annually. A survey found that the number of mussel species in the Upper Iowa River segment just downstream from Coldwater and Pine creeks had rebounded from zero in 1998 to six in 2012.

"Mussels are good indicators of the health of a stream system, so the fact that they are making a comeback after the efforts of the watershed project shows the value of these projects for our lakes and rivers," said DNR biologist Jen Kurth.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency now has written a lengthy article about the Upper Iowa River and its success story. Read it at: https://www.epa.gov/nps/success-stories-about-restoring-water-bodies-impaired-nonpoint-source-pollution#ia