Gunderson Valley Creek, Blue River Watershed (LW09)
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Gunderson Valley Creek, Blue River Watershed (LW09)
Gunderson Valley Creek (1212600)
5.40 Miles
0 - 5.40
Natural Community
Cool-Cold Headwater
Year Last Monitored
2002
Poor
 
This river is impaired
Low DO, Degraded Habitat
Total Phosphorus, Sediment/Total Suspended Solids
 
Grant
Trout Water 
No
Outstanding or Exceptional 
No
Impaired Water 
Yes

Fish and Aquatic Life

Current Use
Restricted Aquatic Life
Attainable Use
Cold
Designated Use
Default FAL

Overview

The entire 4 miles of Gunderson Valley Creek, a
tributary to Castle Rock Creek, are included on Wisconsin’s 2002 section 303(d) list. Castle Rock was listed as impaired due to degraded habitat due to sedimentation that limited the stream’s coldwater fishery. Gunderson Valley Creek has sedimentation problems, substantial diurnal fluctuations in dissolved oxygen and common exceedances of the dissolved oxygen criterion in Wisconsin’s water quality standards. A TMDL was approved in 2004 for sediment and phosphorus.
Gunderson Valley Creek has not been assigned a designated use and falls
into a default situation, where the use may be any of the five classifications. Temperatures in this stream are at the maximum to support a coldwater fishery. At a minimum, it should be able to support a warmwater sport or forage fishery not dominated by tolerant eurythermal species. For purposes of this set of TMDLs, Gunderson Valley is assumed to be able to support a coldwater fishery.
The coldwater IBI for this stream, an indicator of fish community health, was zero and there are a number of other measures that indicate a severely degraded stream. Nutrient concentrations are very high. The mean of the totalphosphorus concentrations during the 2001 growing season was 0.52 mg/l. The nutrient levels are particularly high during runoff events where total phosphorus concentrations were 4.3 mg/l on June 3, 2002 and 2.4 mg/l on June 11, 2002. This water was assessed during the 2012 listing cycle, and total phosphorus sample data still exceed 2012 WisCALM listing criteria for the fish and aquatic life use, and biological impairment was observed.

A habitat survey was not conducted on Gunderson Valley Creek, but the sedimentation problem is readily apparent in the downstream portion near the confluence with Castle Rock Creek.

Dissolved oxygen levels do not meet the water quality criterion of 6 mg/l for a
coldwater stream (nor 5 mg/l for a warmwater sport or forage fishery stream). between June and August 2001, the minimum values occurring as part of a diel
swing went down to 2.6 mg/l. Dissolved oxygen levels went below 6 mg/l on five
(monthly) sampling dates in 2001 and 2002. Predawn levels were likely lower than
these daytime samples. Such diel dissolved oxygen swings are indicative of nutrients
supporting aquatic plant growth which in turn results in night time dissolved oxygen use.


Another concern is dissolved oxygen during summer storm events. The bacteria in
the organic load carried in the runoff event use much of the dissolved oxygen and cause
the levels to drop further. One such occurrence took place on August 5, 2002 and is
described in the “Castle Rock Creek TMDL Project Final [Monitoring] Report”. This
August event demonstrates the combination of dissolved oxygen being lowered by both
nutrients (diel swings) and BOD (“slug load”). Manure runoff is the most likely cause
of the further lowering of the dissolved oxygen. Gunderson Valley Creek also has high
levels of ammonia and, based on very limited sampling, high levels of bacteria. The
ammonia levels, however, do not exceed water quality criteria for either a coldwater of
warmwater stream.
TMDLs for Gunderson Valley Creek are developed for
sediment to address the degraded habitat situation and for phosphorus to address the
concerns with diurnal dissolved oxygen swings. There is no “critical” period for the
sedimentation concern. The sediment is present throughout the year, although sediment
loads from the watershed do come from runoff events. The “critical” period for
phosphorus is summer base flow conditions. However, the phosphorus loads from
runoff events - especially those in the growing season - are the source of the base flow
phosphorus loads. There are no continuous discharge sources of phosphorus in the
watershed.

Date  2011

Author   Aquatic Biologist

Natural communities (stream and lake natural communities) represent model results that use predicted flow and temperature based on landscape features and related assumptions. Ranges of flow and temperature associated with specific aquatic life communities (fish, macroinvertebrates) help biologists identify appropriate resource management goals. Wisconsin Natural Communities.
This is the most recent date of monitoring data stored in SWIMS. Additional surveys for fish and habitat may be available subsequent to this date.
Trout Waters are represented by Class I, Class II or Class III waters. These classes have specific ecological characteristics and management actions associated with them. For more information regarding Trout Classifications, see the Fisheries Trout Class Webpages.
Wisconsin has designated many of the state's highest quality waters as Outstanding Resource Waters (ORWs) or Exceptional Resource Waters (ERWs). Waters designated as ORW or ERW are surface waters which provide outstanding recreational opportunities, support valuable fisheries and wildlife habitat, have good water quality, and are not significantly impacted by human activities. ORW and ERW status identifies waters that the State of Wisconsin has determined warrant additional protection from the effects of pollution. These designations are intended to meet federal Clean Water Act obligations requiring Wisconsin to adopt an 'antidegradation' policy that is designed to prevent any lowering of water quality - especially in those waters having significant ecological or cultural value.
A water is polluted or 'impaired' if it does not support full use by humans, wildlife, fish and other aquatic life and it is shown that one or more of the pollutant criteria are not met.
The use the water currently supports. This is not a designation or classification; it is based on the current condition of the water. Information in this column is not designed for, and should not be used for, regulatory purposes.
Fish and Aquatic Life communities are not fully supported in this ecosystem.
The use that the investigator believes the water could achieve through managing "controllable" sources. Beaver dams, hydroelectric dams, low gradient streams, and naturally occurring low flows are generally not considered controllable. The attainable use may be the same as the current use or it may be higher.
Streams capable of supporting a cold water sport fishery, or serving as a spawning area for salmonids and other cold water fish species. Representative aquatic life communities, associated with these waters, generally require cold temperatures and concentrations of dissolved oxygen that remain above 6 mg/L. Since these waters are capable of supporting natural reproduction, a minimum dissolved oxygen concentration of 7 mg/L is required during times of active spawning and support of early life stages of newly-hatched fish.
This is the water classification legally recognized by NR102 and NR104, Wis. Adm. Code. The classification determines water quality criteria and effluent limits. Waters obtain designated uses through classification procedures.
Fish and Aquatic Life - Default Waters do not have a specific use designation subcategory but are considered fishable, swimmable waters.