Buttrick Creek landowners protect
endangered species, water quality

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This article was written and posted on INHF's website in September 2002. 

Photo by Joe McGovern
Thanks to several Greene County landowners, a federally endangered fish has more habitat-and humans have cleaner water.


Greg and Maralie Ruth, Dolores Bravard, Mike and Kathy Bravard and Scott and Jolene Green voluntarily participated in conservation efforts to protect habitat for the Topeka shiner (Notropis topeka) in Greene County's Buttrick Creek. The Topeka shiner is a federally endangered fish that lives in the creek.

Meanwhile, these same conservation measures will help improve water quality in Buttrick Creek, which has had some of the highest nitrate levels in the Raccoon River watershed. This watershed provides drinking water for one in ten Iowans, including people living in the Des Moines metro.

In addition to the private landowners, the Buttrick Creek project involves many other partners and funders: the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation (INHF), the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) Endangered Species Private Lands Program, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's 319 Water Quality grant program-along with several private contractors from the local area.

"To understand this project, you have to understand the endangered Topeka shiner and its habitat needs," explained Joe McGovern, INHF Land Stewardship Director and coordinator for this project. "The shiner is a small minnow that depends on meandering streams with off-channel habitat. Like many other aquatic species, the shiner needs riffles, pools and oxbows-not a fast-flowing drainage ditch."

"You also have to understand that Buttrick Creek, along with other streams throughout the state and nation, have changed significantly since Europeans first settled here," McGovern continued. "Many rivers and streams now lack deep-rooted prairie plants along their banks to help prevent erosion and filter the water. Meanwhile, many streams have been channelized, creating erratic flow rates.
Drainage tiles from nearby fields further emphasize flood events, digging the channel ever-deeper causing the water table to drop. As the water table drops, adjoining oxbows and other wetland features-which once provided wildlife habitat while storing and filtering water-become 'perched' or unnaturally separated from the larger system."

Supported by a multi-year USFWS grant, INHF hired Jon Judson and Dan Brouse, independent natural land consultants, to contact private landowners along the creek about joining the program.

When the Greens, Bravards and Ruths agreed to participate, INHF hired independent contractor Larry Taylor of Coon Rapids to design in-stream riffle structures and restore oxbow wetlands, in consultation with Dr. Bruce Menzel of Iowa State University and Wayne Fischer of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. MHF Engineering of Jefferson finalized the structural designs, while Richards Construction of Sac City did the actual earth-moving.

The team created and inserted in-stream structures and riffle structures, recreating small pools for the Topeka shiner. Meanwhile, the crew restored perched oxbows, allowing them to again hold and filter water. Meanwhile, INHF worked with landowners to restore native prairie and remove undesirable trees from along the creek. In addition to creating Topeka shiner habitat, all these actions help restore some of the natural flow, allowing it to drop sediment and filter nutrient loads from the water.

"These landowners were great land stewards before this project came along. They had already planted buffer strips along the creek to protect its banks," said McGovern. "Landowners don't get paid to participate in this program, and joining doesn't particularly help or hurt their ongoing operations. These folks were willing to do something good for the land. They're as excited about seeing the environmental benefits as we are-maybe more."

"It's important for me to find a balance between protecting our environment while farming and raising livestock," said Mike Bravard, one of the farmers involved in the project.

For more information, e-mail Cathy Engstrom, Director of Communications, or call (515) 288-1846.

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