Fishes of the Wakarusa River in Kansas Part 1

Fishes of the Wakarusa River in Kansas.

by James E. Deacon and Artie L. Metcalf.

_Introduction_

The Wakarusa River rises in the eastern edge of the Flint Hills and flows approximately 50 miles in an easterly direction and empties into the Kansas River near Eudora; with its tributaries, the Wakarusa drains 458 square miles in parts of Wabaunsee, Shawnee, Osage, and Douglas counties of northeastern Kansas (Fig. 1). The average gradient is 6.3 feet per mile. Turbidity is consistently more than 100 ppm in the lower portions of the mainstream and major tributaries, but is usually lower in the upper portions of tributaries. The channel of the mainstream is intrenched in its own alluvium (Dufford, 1958:36) and has high, muddy banks and mud- or sand-bottom; the upper parts of tributaries have lower banks and bottoms of gravel, rubble, or bedrock, although a few (such as Cole Creek) have areas of sandy bottom. A fringe forest of deciduous trees occurs along most streams. The topography and geology of the area have been discussed by Todd (1911), Franzen and Leonard (1943), and Dufford (1958).

The five-year period prior to 1957 was the driest in the 70-year history of weather-records in Kansas (Metzler _et al._, 1958). Streams throughout the Wakarusa Basin suffered intermittency and, according to Mr. Melvon H. Wertzberger, the local Work Unit Conservationist with the Soil Conservation Service, many of them dried completely or contained only a few widely-scattered, stagnant pools. The effect of the drought on stream-flow at the mainstream gaging station 2.1 miles south of Lawrence is presented in Table 1.

According to the Division of Sanitation, Kansas State Board of Health, no untreated domestic sewage or industrial waste is discharged into the Wakarusa River System at this time.

The Wakarusa Watershed a.s.sociation is in the preliminary stages of establishing a watershed control project in the basin. Objectives of the project are the improvement of land-use practices and the construction of several headwater retention structures. Such a program should have a long-range effect on the physical and biological characteristics of the streams of the basin. With this in mind we think it important to doc.u.ment the nature of the present fish-fauna and to attempt a historical resume of the fauna, based on collections made in the past sixty years.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 1. Map of the Wakarusa River and its princ.i.p.al tributaries.]

_Methods_

Sodium cyanide, a 110-volt (600-watt) A.C. electric shocker, and seines (6, 12, and 25 feet long, 4 to 8 feet deep having 1/4-in. mesh) were used to collect fish in 1959. All fishes were preserved and examined in the laboratory with the exception of large, common species that were identified in the field and returned to the stream.

TABLE 1. RECORD OF STREAM-FLOW, WAKARUSA RIVER 2.1 MI. S LAWRENCE, KANSAS.

============+=========+===========+=========+====== Water Year Days Days with Maximum Mean (Oct. 1 with no flow less for for to Oct. 1) flow than 5cfs year year ------------+---------+-----------+---------+------ 1951 0 0 22,600 596.0 1952 0 85 5,000 179.0 1953 83 191 685 10.2 1954 194 123 2,010 17.2 1955 116 174 2,630 22.3 1956 122 183 2,550 20.7 1957 141 84 11,700 137.0 1958 0 9 6,370 213.0 1959 0 46 8,000 184.0 ------------+---------+-----------+---------+------

_Collection Sites_

The following collections were made by personnel of the State Biological Survey of Kansas in the 1890's, from 1910 to 1912, and from 1942 to 1953. These collections, all from Douglas County, are deposited in the Museum of Natural History, The University of Kansas. In the annotated list they are designated "KU":

1. Rock Creek, 1898.

2. Washington Creek, 1898.

3. "2-1/2 miles east of Twin Mounds," Rock Creek, Sec. 1, T. 14 S, R. 17 E, 1899.

4. Rock Creek, 1911.

5. Rock Creek, 1912.

6. Washington Creek, 2-3/4 mi. W and 1 mi. S Lawrence, 1946.

7. Tributary of Yankee Tank Creek, Secs. 4 and 9, T. 13 S, R. 19 E, July 24, 1951.

8. Rock Creek, Sec. 19, T. 13 S, R. 19 E, Aug. 11, 1951.

9. Drainage ditch, tributary to Wakarusa River, Sec. 18, T. 13 S, R. 20 E, Aug. 24, 1951.

10. Wakarusa River, Sec. 20, T. 13 S, R. 20 E, Aug. 24, 1951.

11. Rock Creek, Sec. 27, T. 13 S, R. 18 E, Sept. 28, 1951.

12. Wakarusa River, Secs. 16 and 17, T. 13 S, R. 20 E, June 21, 1952.

13. Little Wakarusa River, Sec. 18, T. 13 S, R. 21 E, June 21, 1952.

14. Rock Creek, Sec. 33, T. 13 S, R. 18 E, Oct. 2, 1952.

15. Wakarusa River, Sec. 14, T. 13 S, R. 20 E, March 28, 1953.

Several collections made between 1912 and 1948 are deposited in the University of Michigan Museum of Zoology. In the annotated list these collections, all from Douglas County, are designated "UMMZ":

1. Rock Creek, June 9, 1912.

2. Oxbow Lake, 6 mi. E Lawrence, 1924 (several dates).

3. Wakarusa River, 7 mi. SE Lawrence, April 9, 1924.

4. Rock Creek, 9 mi. SW Lawrence, April 14, 1924.

5. Rock Creek, 12-1/2 mi. S and 8-1/2 mi. E Topeka, July 4, 1948.

Our collections, all of which were made in 1959, are identified by the letters DM followed by a station-number. Stations are numbered consecutively beginning at the mouth of the Wakarusa River and proceeding up each tributary as it is encountered.

_Description of Stations_

1. Wakarusa River, Sec. 4, T. 13 S, R. 21 E, March 14 and Oct. 18.

Mouth of Wakarusa to one-half mile upstream; width _ca._ 25 feet; depth to 4 feet; bottom mud; banks mud, 10 feet high; current slight; water turbid.

2. Wakarusa River, Sec. 7, T. 13 S, R. 21 E, March 21. Width _ca._ 25 feet; bottom mud; banks mud, 10-20 feet high.

3. Little Wakarusa Creek, Sec. 19, T. 13 S, R. 21 E, May 2. Long sandy riffles, 6-10 inches deep; pools to 3 feet deep; bottom sand and mud; water slightly turbid.

4. Little Wakarusa Creek, Secs. 29 and 32, T. 13 S, R. 21 E, May 2. Riffles 8-10 inches deep having rubble bottom; pools to 4 feet deep having mud bottom; width 15-30 feet.

5. Little Wakarusa Creek, Sec. 7, T. 14 S, R. 21 E, May 2. Riffles 6-8 inches deep having gravel bottom; pools to 3 feet deep; bottom gravel and mud; width 8 to 15 feet; water slightly turbid.

6. Cole Creek, Sec. 21, T. 13 S, R. 20 E, May 2. Riffles 8-12 feet wide, 6 inches deep, bottom of flat, fragmented shale; pools having shale and mud bottom; water slightly turbid.

7. Cole Creek, Sec. 10, T. 14 S, R. 20 E, May 2. Small, shallow creek having sand bottom; water slightly turbid.

8. Cole Creek, Sec. 23, T. 14 S, R. 10 E, May 2. Banks steep, 20 feet high; bottom sand and hard clay; water clear.

9. Tributary to Yankee Tank Creek, Sec. 10, T. 13 S, R. 19 E, May 14. Width 2-10 feet; bottom mud; water turbid.

10. Washington Creek, Sec. 6, T. 14 S, R. 19 E, Feb. 26. Width _ca._ 25 feet; bottom rubble and gravel; water clear.

11. Washington Creek, Sec. 11, T. 14 S, R. 18 E, Feb. 26, March 28, March 30, and Oct. 18. One-half mile below dam at Lone Star Lake; width 10-15 feet; bottom gravel; water clear.