When a University of Missouri team stopped by asking to do research on our creek, I had to rethink it. Not the project which was given permission. The creek, now called a cold water stream.
Just a Creek
Having a creek always running through the property was a plus when we moved here. The source wasn’t an issue. Our little valley is lined with springs. It turns out they are cold water springs.
Missouri knows about cold water rivers because trout and bass like cold water. Cold water streams are too small for these fish, so they’ve been ignored. The University project is trying to set up criteria for such streams.
How Cold Is Cold?
Our stream, one of several in the project, is being monitored for temperature all summer. Luckily for the team, technology lets them put a sensor in the water and it does all the work so no one has to do a daily reading.
Temperature matters as it affects the plants and animals that live in or by the creek. Because our creek has a cold water spring just half a mile up the road and a couple of small ones on the property, the water stays fairly cold. However, the temperature range will help define such a stream.
Who Lives Here?
It’s tempting to only look at the animals, but the plants are important too. Plants like water cress only grow in cold water. Cold water keeps the shores colder too and affects what grows there.
The team checked out all the plants along one section of the creek. Some will be part of the definition of a cold water stream. I’ll look over the list to see which ones I’ve missed.
Small fish live in the creek. I’d looked at some of them when I had an aquarium in my classroom. Evidently, I missed a lot of them.
The team collected fifteen kinds of fish. Some of these are really beautiful. If future creek floods dig some deeper pools, the bluegill might get big enough to tempt a fishing expedition.
Smaller Residents
Fish like to eat. They also get eaten. Invertebrates live in the creek too. The crayfish insisted on getting in on the fish count, even ate a couple of the captured fish. Free food is free food in their world.
However, the team will be back in a couple of months to track down these invertebrates. I’ve seen caddisfly larva, hellgrammites, water pennies, snails, mayfly larva. It will be interesting to see how many I missed.
All of this makes my summer interesting. More importantly, my cold water stream will help set a standard for such places in Missouri.