Proposed Reclassification of Horse Creek, North Platte River Basin in Goshen County, Wyoming

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1 Proposed Reclassification of Horse Creek, North Platte River Basin in Goshen County, Wyoming October 25, 2010 Waterbody: Location: Tributary to: Horse Creek - Mainstem from the confluence with Stinking Water Creek downstream to the Nebraska State Line Confluence with Stinking Water Creek in Laramie County-SW¼, Section 1, Township 18 North, Range 61 West to the Nebraska State Line-Section 32, Township 22 North, Range 58 West in Goshen County. North Platte River River Basin: North Platte, HUC Purpose The purpose of this Use Attainability Analysis is to recommend the reclassification of the main stem of Horse Creek from its confluence with Stinking Water Creek downstream to the Nebraska State Line from 2AB (supports a coldwater fishery and drinking water) to 2ABww (supports a warmwater fishery and drinking water). Background The Horse Creek watershed is located within the Horse Creek Sub-basin (USGS HUC ) in the North Platte Basin. This remote watershed lies within Goshen and Laramie Counties in eastern Wyoming (Figure 1). Horse Creek is a perennial stream that drains this watershed, extending approximately 130 miles from its headwaters in the Laramie Range (at 8,400 ft. elevation) to its confluence with the North Platte River near Lyman, Nebraska (at 4,050 ft. elevation). Land uses within the watershed are primarily grazing and irrigated hay production, with considerable dryland and irrigated cropping at lower elevations. Underground limestone mining occurred in the upper reaches of the watershed. Horse Creek is currently classified by the state of Wyoming as 2AB, and is protected as a cold water fishery, for aquatic life other than fish, agricultural, industrial, recreational, and wildlife uses. Watershed assessments on upper Horse Creek by WDEQ have shown that aquatic life uses are fully supported. Justification for Reclassification Section 33 (a) of Chapter 1 of the Wyoming Water Quality Rules and Regulations states that any person at any time may petition the Department of Environmental Quality or the Environmental Quality Council to change the classification, add or remove a designated use or establish site specific criteria on any surface water. 1

2 Figure 1. Map showing the location of the Horse Creek Sub-basin within Wyoming (inset map) and the location of the UAA segment of Horse Creek. 2

3 This reclassification is based upon Section 33(b) of Chapter 1 of the Wyoming Water Quality Rules and Regulations which allows that the Water Quality Administrator may lower a classification, remove a designated use which is not an existing use or an attainable use, establish ambient-based criteria on effluent dependent waters, or make a recommendation to the Environmental Quality Council to establish sub-categories of a use, or establish site-specific criteria if it can be demonstrated through a Use Attainability Analysis (UAA) that the original classification and/or designated use or water quality criteria are not feasible because: (v) Physical conditions related to the natural features of the water body, such as the lack of a proper substrate, cover, depth, pools, riffles, and the like, unrelated to water quality, preclude attainment of the classification or use The Use Attainability Analysis (UAA) developed by the Goshen County Conservation District (see Appendix A) the letter of support from Wyoming Game and Fish Department (see Appendix B) and Landowner Testimony (see Appendix C) satisfactorily demonstrate using both physical and biological evidence that Horse Creek from its confluence with Stinking Water Creek downstream to the Nebraska State Line is more appropriately classified as a warm water fishery instead of the current coldwater fishery use classification. WDEQ agrees with this proposed reclassification based on the GCCD UAA and the recommendations of the Wyoming Game and Fish Department and offers the following summary of justifications. The Goshen County Conservation District UAA identifies natural habitat features in this section of Horse Creek as not suitable for a lotic coldwater game fishery. Specifically, the homogenous silt-sand streambed and high water temperatures restrict the establishment of coldwater fishes. Indeed, streambeds composed of silt and sand are provide poor refuge and spawning substrates for these fishes, and limit algal and macroinvertebrate production. In addition, water temperatures at several study sites along this stream segment were well above WDEQs coldwater fisheries criterion of 20 C. Lastly, Rahel and Hubert (1991) found that the fish communities in Horse Creek are naturally stratified; with coldwater fish occurring above 6500 ft. elevation, and warmwater assemblages below. The requirements for reclassification outlined in Section 33 (b)(v) are satisfied by the above description of the habitat and fish community structure within this segment of Horse Creek. Section 2 (viii) of Chapter 1 of the Wyoming Water Quality Rules and Regulations defines cold water game fishes as either burbot (Genus Lota), grayling (Genus Thymallus), trout, salmon and char (Genus Salmo, Oncorhynchus and Salvelinus), and whitefish (Genus Prosopium); whereas in Section 2 (lv), warm water game fishes are defined as bass (Genus Micropterus and Ambloplites), catfish and bullheads (Genus Ameiurus, Ictalurus, Noturus and Pylodictus), crappie (Genus Pomoxis), yellow perch (Genus Perca ), sunfish (Genus Lepomis), walleye and sauger (Genus Stizostedion), pike (Genus Esox), sturgeon (Genus Scaphirhynchus) and freshwater drum (Genus Aplodinotus). There are currently no Wyoming Department of Game and Fish (WGFD) records of coldwater fish collections in this segment of Horse Creek; whereas, several entities (Rahel and Hubert 1986; Snigg and Foster 1997; WGFD 1990, 2005) have collected warm water game fish species, including Green Sunfish, Yellow Perch, White Crappie, and Stonecat. In a letter of support (see Appendix B) for the UAA, WGFD agreed that the segment of Horse Creek from its confluence with Stinking Water Creek downstream to the Nebraska State Line is most appropriately classified as a warm water game fishery. Implementation This document represents a preliminary determination by the administrator of the Water Quality Division to change the classification of this section of Horse Creek. After consideration of public comments, the Administrator shall publish a final determination which will be submitted to EPA for approval under the Federal Clean Water Act. The revised classification shall become effective upon EPA approval or 90 days after submittal, whichever comes first. 3

4 Public Participation Persons wishing to comment on these findings or planned implementation may submit written comments to Richard Thorp, Water Quality Division, Department of Environmental Quality, Herschler Bldg. 4W, Cheyenne, WY 82002; Fax # on or before November 30, Copies of the Use Attainability Analysis are available from the Department of Environmental Quality, 122 West 25th Street, Herschler Building-4W, Cheyenne, WY or can be downloaded from the agency s website ( Persons may request a hard copy of the document by contacting Richard Thorp at , fax at , rthorp@wyo.gov. RT/LP/rm/

5 Appendix A UAA Submitted by Goshen County Conservation Districts for Horse Creek 5

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37 Appendix B Wyoming Game and Fish Department Letter of Support 37

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41 Appendix C Landowner Testimonial 41

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