Streamkeepers Update--December 2025

by Jim Sauter, Streamkeepers Coordinator
​Welcome TCTU members, Streamkeepers Volunteers, and Friends. 
 
We are about midway through December, and we are almost ready to close the books on 2025.  This has been a great year for TCTU Streamkeepers.
 
Thank you to all our volunteers and TCTU for your support.  We appreciate all you have done for cold water streams in Minnesota and helping to ensure clean water for future generations.
 
Our TCTU Streamkeeper teams wrapped up the bulk of our work for 2025 at the end of October.  Monitoring of salt levels, temperatures, clarity, and water temperatures during the off season will continue at a much more limited basis.  Early in 2006, we plan to confirm our teams for the upcoming season, take an inventory and order supplies as needed.  We will also conduct an on stream training session for new Streamkeepers and as a refresher for our veteran stream monitors. 
 
On our agenda for 2026 is to continue our chemical monitoring efforts on our nine "metro" streams including Belle Creek, Brown's Creek, Eagle Creek, Hay Creek, Ike's/ Mall of America Creek, Little Cannon River, South Branch Vermillion, South Branch Whitewater, and Trout Brook, We may be asked to conduct a macro invertebrate study on some area streams such as South Creek or Little Rock Creek, probably in August or September.  Another focus is to better coordinate our activities with other agencies so that our monitoring efforts help fill in gaps in the data collections.
 
More information about our 2026 Streamkeeper monitoring season will follow in upcoming newsletters.
 
At a recent online meeting sponsored by TU about the Clean Water Act, we were updated about some recent attacks on clean water. 

The EPA has recently proposed regulations that would gut Clean Water Act protection for wetlands and tributary streams threatening the safety of drinking water for one in three Americans and the $1 trillion outdoor recreation economy.  Hearings will be held in Washington in January 2026, and TU will be providing input.  We will continue to monitor developments in the coming weeks and months.  If the spirit moves you, please consider taking action by contacting your legislators.  Included in the attached link is a "template" letter from the Izaak Walton League.  TU recommends customizing any letters so that it better gets the attention of our representatives.  The link can be found here:  Action Alert 
 
Have a great holiday season.  We are looking forward to all your collective efforts in helping our streams and trout fisheries in 2026.
 
Wishing you the best,        
 
Jim Sauter
TCTU Streamkeeper Coordinator
 
STREAM KEEPERS AND DRAIN KEEPERS (Thank you to Ginger Flaten for some of her contributions to this article)
Skyler, the grandson of Streamkeeper Ginger Flaten, gave a wonderful presentation at our last TCTU Chapter meeting about his Eagle Scout project.  His project, entitled the Storm Drain Stenciling Project, involved stenciling 65 storm drains in the Farmington and Vermillion watershed area.
 
Why is this so important?  Skyler went on to explain the negative environmental impact of dumping pollutants down storm drains that empty directly into a stream.  Tons of pollutants are going down our storm drains.  Skyler's efforts helped reduce pollution in the Vermillion stream system, but more importantly, gave us all a better perspective of the bigger problem. 
 
In Minnesota, drain water from homes goes through a network of pipes to regional treatment plants, like the huge Metropolitan Wastewater Plant in St. Paul for the Twin Cities, where it's cleaned and released into rivers (like the Mississippi or Minnesota River).
Meanwhile, stormwater (rain/snowmelt) usually goes into separate drains, flows untreated into local lakes, rivers, and creeks (like Minnehaha Creek, Mississippi River), though newer systems use ponds and filters before release. A third of the state uses septic systems, which treat water in the soil. 
 
Doug Moran, TCTU Board Member, Habitat Coordinator, and Streamkeeper provided valuable insights and assistance for Skylar's project.  Doug has been working extensively on the Adopt a Drain program that attempts to address this pollution problem.  Bob Luck, Past President of TCTU, also provided help and assistance.  Many others made contributions in making this project a major success.
 
According to Ginger, "Skyler spray-painted stencil messages as a reminder that storm drains flow into streams."  This raises awareness to community members, students, and to us about the importance of keeping pollutants out of our waterways.
 
Enjoy the slideshow from Skyler's project.

TROUT IN THE CLASSROOM
Kudos to Amber Taylor, Jim Emery, Caitlin Collins, Mitch Abbett, and many others for their recent efforts in delivering eggs to classrooms across Minnesota in December.  According to Amber, the program now encompasses 70 schools and 2 nature centers. 
 
As usual, I was curious,  and asked Amber some questions.  Here are the slightly edited responses...
 
1.  Where are the trout eggs coming from?  A commercial hatchery in Washington state called Riverence.  It was Trout Lodge in Washington from 2018-2021. The DNR hasn’t allowed us to use eggs from a MN hatchery since 2018.
 
2.  Are these again be Rainbow trout?  Yes.
 
3.  What specific streams will be receiving the fry in the spring?  For Twin Cities schools, release site options are Brown's Creek, the Vermillion, and Cenaiko lake in CR Dam regional park. 
 
Enjoy the pictures from egg delivery day!

WINTER SALT WEEK IS COMING
Winter Salt Week will be held on January 26-30, 2026.  If you are interested in participating, you can request a Salt Watch kit and take some readings in area streams, ponds, or lakes.  You have the option of entering the salt/ chloride data to our TCTU Google Form or directly to the Clean Water hub.  Once you have the kit, the testing on a stream takes about ten minutes.
 
Free Salt Watch kits are available here:  request a Salt Watch kit 
 
Data can be submitted to our Google Form here:
Option 2 is to submit data directly to the Clean Water Hub here by signing up and posting here:  Clean Water Hub