Musings of a River Rat: On the Wapsi River from Quasqueton to Independence

QUASQUETON - The hundreds of river lovers paddling into this Buchanan County town today will find lots to like about one of the state's premier streams.

The Wapsipinicon between Independence and Quasqueton, the first leg of this year's Project AWARE cleanup adventure, may not be the state's prettiest, swiftest, cleanest, wildest or fishiest stretch of river. But it is right up there along the top in those important categories.

That is the considered opinion of a Wapsi river rat who for the past 55 years has made most of his favorite memories floating, tramping, wading and fishing that stretch - a river rat who also has had ample opportunity to compare its charms with those of the Cedar, Iowa, Shell Rock, Turkey, Volga, Upper Iowa, Yellow, Maquoketa and a few other less notable Mississippi River tributaries.

And it's not just me, an unabashed Wapsi enthusiast, saying so.

Dan Cohen, director of the Buchanan County Conservation Department, which manages several tracts of public land along the Wapsi, calls it a gem.

Though it's not really wild or remote, its mostly natural viewshed gives that impression, he said.

'So much of its natural corridor is intact and preserved. It's recognized by many as the best river of its size in Iowa,” Cohen said.

Its size is medium. Its 300-mile length is only slightly shorter than the Cedar, which parallels it to the west. But its skinny watershed drains only about a fourth as much land as the Cedar.

'The Wapsi rates among the upper tier of Iowa rivers in terms of water quality, with lower nutrient loads than most Iowa rivers,” said Department of Natural Resources water quality specialist John Olson.

Its 12-mile Independence-to-Quasqueton stretch is not on the state's lengthening list of impaired waters, although other segments, both upstream and down, are listed - mainly for the presence of bacteria at levels unsuitable for primary contact activities such as swimming and wading.

DNR fisheries biologist Dan Kirby, who conducted an electroshock fish census in the stretch last fall, said he was impressed with the number and size of the smallmouth bass.

'That's always a good sign. They need clear water and good habitat to flourish,” he said.

When the Project AWARE volunteers come downriver Sunday, Cohen said he hopes they will not find huge volumes of trash.

They certainly will find scenic limestone outcroppings that complement the sandbars, meadows and hardwood-covered hills with which they are interspersed.

They will find a steady but leisurely current that will get them where they're going in comfort and on time.

Still slightly elevated from heavy June rains, the Wapsi, like all farmland-draining Iowa streams, carries a tint of topsoil. But its substantial base flow - water infiltrated through soil and bedrock, rather than running off the earth's surface - assures decent clarity in all but flood tide and water clean enough to support all manner of aquatic life from frogs and crayfish to mussels and hellgrammites.

Fauna-wise, it's got it all. Despite their lack of stealth, the Project AWARE volunteers are likely to see deer, turkeys, otters, beavers, raccoons, squirrels, ducks and geese.

Regular overflights of eagles, osprey, herons and kingfishers will attest that its waters hold plenty of their favorite prey - fish.

Which is all I really need to know to like a river.