MPR: Toxic Streams Part 2: Hay Creek Fish Poisoning

Toxic Streams
Part 2: Hay Creek Fish Poisoning
By Art Hughes
August 7, 1997

State officials say a chemical spill that wiped out a two-mile stretch of a popular trout stream south of Red Wing was not an accident. But without an eyewitness they hold little hope of tracing the source of the spill.

State officials quickly ruled out natural causes for the fish kill that stripped virtually all the brown trout from a two mile stretch of Hay Creek. Department of Natural Resources fisheries agent Al Stevens says there's also no evidence that an accidental spill, such as a feedlot manure leak, wrecked the prime trout stream.

Stevens: There's no barnyard. There's no pipeline. The corn is 11 feet tall, and there's been no spraying. Someone or some people came and dumped something in that creek. Their intent was either to kill fish or dispose of something they didn't want anymore.

Officials have identified the spot where the spill started. And Stevens says whatever killed the fish pretty much left water plants and insects alone. State labs are looking at tissue samples from the fish, and will also examine the creek sediment. But, Stevens says, the spill wasn't reported until days after it happened. As a result, vital clues were lost.

Stevens: So much time has elapsed since the time the spill occured, our evidence is gone. We need somebody who knows somebody or saw or heard something - that's what we're looking for.

If it was intentional, state officials can only speculate on the motive. Any fish caught there must be thrown back because of special regulations on that section of Hay Creek. Perhaps someone opposing the regulations is making a statement. It's also possible a local landowner is tired of anglers tromping across his pasture. Whatever the source, DNR has a stake in finding the culprit. The agency has sunk $160,000 in the past few years successfully nurturing the creek's natural trout population back to health.

Wayne Bartz is a fly-fishing guide. He says DNR's efforts helped make Hay Creek a solid trout stream especially valuable for nearby Twin Cities anglers.

Bartz: These are all wild fish, and when you start killing fish, it takes years before it comes back to the natural state it was in before this incident happened.

State officials say virtually all of the estimated 7,000 fish and another 3-5,000 newly hatched fingerlings died. DNR has another reason to find the person responsible: whoever's convicted of killing the fish could face estimated restitution costs upwards of $300,000. DNR's Stevens says the good news is the wild trout in other parts of the creek remain healthy, and will soon start moving in to re-populate the area killed off by the spill.

Toxic Streams Part 1: Beaver Creek Fish Kill

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