Homeowners Asked to Protect Iowa's Only Urban Trout Stream

Four hundred homeowners in the McLoud Run watershed are being invited to a meeting Wednesday, June 23 at 7:30 p.m. at the Farm Bureau Building, 1327 Boyson Road, Hiawatha, to see what they can do to protect Iowa’s only urban trout stream: McLoud Run. 

Sponsored by the City of Cedar Rapids, USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service, the Linn County Soil and Water Conservation District, EPA and Iowa Department of Natural Resources, the meeting will focus on ways to improve water quality in McLoud Run.

Only 3.9 miles long, McLoud Run is a cold water stream that supports trout as it parallels I-380 until it dumps into Cedar Lake.  The watershed that drains into McLoud Run is only 4.5 square miles and covers northern Cedar Rapids and southern Hiawatha. 

“Urban runoff into McLoud Run is a concern,” says John Bruene, District Conservationist with USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service.  “Summer storm water runoff from asphalt roads and building roofs will typically be hot and carry pollutants with it.  Trout do not like warm water and they do not like pollutants that can be found on parking lot surfaces such as motor oil.  There are new practices that any homeowner or business can install that will help protect McLoud Run and trout that call it home.  That’s what we will discuss at this meeting.  Showing individual homeowners what they can do to protect McLoud Run.”

One of the practices to be discussed at the meeting is rain gardens.  Rain gardens are depressed land areas that capture storm water runoff, infiltrate it, clean it and cool it before releasing it.  According to Bruene, depending on the soil type, location, and amount of impervious surface you are trying to manage, rain gardens can be installed in as little as one afternoon.

Seventy percent cost share money to install rain gardens may be available to homeowners and businesses within the McLoud Run watershed. 

For more information, contact Gene Wolter or John Bruene at the Linn County Soil and Water Conservation District office at 319-377-5960, extension 3. 

                                                                            --30--

< Back to 2004 News Releases