Rice Creek presentation to Bridgewater Township

On January 11th, 2012 Cathy Larson (Bridgewater Citizen and volunteer) and Lucas Bistodeau (CRWP staff) presented information about the Rice Creek Assessment project to the public and Bridgewater Township supervisors. This presentation covered some background information, project goals and objectives, 1st year's results and project contact information.

Here is a PDF of that presentation. Rice Creek presentation

For more information about this project, please contact Lucas Bistodeau via email:lucas@crwp.net or by phone at (507) 786-3912.

First monitoring season completed!!!

As we have completed our first year of this project, we have created some fact sheets to provide updates to those who are interested in the various aspects of the project. Fact Sheet #1. Fact Sheet #2.

If you have any further questions about the project, please feel free to contact Lucas Bistodeau (507) 786-3912 or lucas@crwp.net.

Northfield Patch Publishes Story About Monitoring Brook Trout in Rice Creek

The Northfield Patch - an online newsletter reporting stories in the Northfield community - recently published an article about the trout in Rice Creek and the research being done on the stream's ecology. In the article they interview Stephanie Schmidt and Kathleen Doran-Norton. Check out the article here.

Tagging Trout

For a part of the assessment project, the group is analyzing the local ecology of Rice Creek. One method of doing so is monitoring species that are the higher-up predators in a food web. In the case of Rice Creek, the trout are the top predators that live in the stream. On May 4th, 2011, several volunteers came out to help tag over 60 trout that were caught throughout the day. The electronic tags allow monitoring to occur over several years and will give a clearer picture of how the trout develop and what impact the water quality may have on the population. 

Below you will find a handful of photos and videos that were recorded during the tagging:

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Get your own

Press Release: Trout Steam Open House

On May 14, Bridgewater Township invites the public to an open house on studies planned for Rice Creek (Spring Brook) from 9:30 to 11:00 a.m. at the Town Hall, 500 Railway Street South, Dundas.

Rice Creek is the only trout stream in Rice County, but its health is threatened by pollutants.  The open house will provide an opportunity to learn how local scientists plan to measure the trout’s health and the cold, clean water they need to thrive.

Where do the trout spend their days?  What do they eat?  Is the creek supporting a healthy population of trout?  What are the sources of pollution?  Where are the springs that provide cold water?  How can we best protect and improve Rice Creek?  These are some of the questions the studies hope to answer.

The Rice Creek Assessment Project is sponsored by Bridgewater Township, Cannon River Watershed Partnership, Saint Olaf College, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, and Trout Unlimited.  The project received a Clean Water Partnership grant from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.  The Rice Creek Concerned Citizens Group, Rice County, and other groups and volunteers are participating.