Gary creek is a low discharge groundwater dependent stream that originates along the eastern edge of the coteaudes prairies in deuel county south dakota pope and willis 1994

This $242,231.00 Federal Formula Grant award from the U.S. Department of the Interior Fish and Wildlife Service under the State Wildlife Grants (CFDA 15.634) program will support efforts by the South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks Wildlife Division to assess and restore habitat conditions in Gary Creek, a unique and threatened stream in eastern South Dakota. The project aims to address habitat issues such as lack of deep pools, substrate embeddedness, bank erosion, and perched culverts that are impacting the native fish community, which includes state-listed threatened species like the northern redbelly dace. Key activities will involve conducting a reconnaissance survey, developing a habitat restoration plan, and implementing restoration techniques to improve and diversify the instream fish habitat. This project aligns with the state's Wildlife Action Plan and will leverage partnerships with agencies and organizations to deliver comprehensive conservation management for this important aquatic habitat and its associated fish species.

IT is a unique stream for eastern south dakotabecause IT is characterized by cool water habitat with summer water temperatures that rarely exceed 18C chippsunpublished data. Historically the native fish community in gary creek upper LAC QUI parle tributary consisted oflongnose dace rhinichthys cataractae creek chub semotilus atromaculatus northern redbelly dace chrosomuseos fathead minnow pimephales promelas brassy minnow hybognathus hankinsoni blackside darter percina maculata and iowa darter etheostoma exile milewski and willis 1989 dieterman and berry 2000. Northernredbelly dace a statelisted threatened species was present in recent collections by krause 2013 who found that 60% of the native fish species in gary creek were lithophilic spawners a presumed adaptation to coarse substrates krause ET AL. 2013. Status of the blackside darter a species of greatest conservation need sgcnwas documented from collections made in 1994 dieterman and berry 2000 although their status remains unknown. In 2015 a joint effort among SD game fish parks the USGS south dakota cooperative fish wildlife research unit south dakota trout unlimited the sdsu student unit of the american fisheries society and barr engineering CO. Was undertaken to assess fish and habitat conditions in gary creek. The task force met in september 2015 for a reconnaissance survey of gary creek and the surrounding watershed. The groups consensus was that habitat characteristics such as 1 lack of deepwater pools 2 substrate embeddedness 3 bank erosion and 4 perched culverts could be contributing to reduced habitat for fishes in gary creek table 1. In addition the low abundance of aquatic invertebrates noted during the invertebrate survey may pose a constraint on food production for fishes. Given the relatively small size of the gary creek watershed the consensus of the task force was that habitat restoration efforts were needed for improving and diversifying instream fish habitat. As outlined in the south dakota wildlife action plan sdwap https GFP.SD.GOV wildlifeactionplan habitat loss or degradation is a leading cause of species decline or extirpation in south dakota. Prioritizing unique aquatic habitats and fish communities for conservation management is an important step toward managing biodiversity through the systematic approach outlined by the sdwap. Habitat issues like those affecting gary creek can be remedied through prescribed habitat restoration techniques many of which have been successfully implemented in the black hills and southeastern minnesota. This project relates directly to the goals of sdwap by providing a strategic framework for partner agencies in leveraging collective resources to restore and evaluate instream habitat in gary creek sdgfp 2014.