July 19, 2006

KEYSTONE - The DNR has traced a Benton County fish kill in a small tributary of Prairie Creek to an open feedlot owned by Charles Wauters of rural Keystone.

Wauters’ relatively small open feedlot is located next to a small stream.

“He had been watering cattle to cool them off, leaving puddles of water to mix with manure and corn glucose, a feed additive, in the lot,” said Mike Wade, an environmental specialist with the Manchester DNR field office.

Rainfall on Monday night apparently washed the manure-contaminated water into the stream and then into Prairie Creek. Dead fish were found in Prairie Creek for up to 14 miles downstream.

Wade advises other livestock operations to keep a close eye on run-off, because conditions are right for devastating effects on streams.

“We have the heat, the low stream flows and the conditions that make any run-off to a stream particularly toxic,” he said. “We had more than 10 fish kills in just one week of August in 1998 under these exact same conditions.”

The DNR found dead carp, white suckers, smallmouth bass and minnows below where the small stream joined Prairie Creek.

The DNR will take the appropriate legal action based on the results of the investigation and the number and species of dead fish.