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• HABITAT DESCRIPTION <br />I Habitat is varied through the study area for the unnamed tributary. At <br />Station 1 the creek is basically a series of beaver ponds with no distinctly <br />i channelized surface flow. The gradient is steep (13.3%) with good growths of <br />aspen and conifers surrounding the ponds. Substrate in the ponds was silt and <br />clay with an overlying layer of decaying organic debris such as grass, leaves <br />and twigs. At Station 2, the creek flows with a gradient of 1. 7% as it mean- <br />ders through pastureland in a well defined channel with 0.5 m banks. Riparian <br />vegetation is restricted to grasses. There are gravel bottom riffles and silt <br />covered pools, which are shallow due to sloughing of the banks. At Station 3 <br />the gradient is 1.0% and the stream flows through a well defined channel. <br />Riffle areas were more prevalent at this station. Substrate at Station 3 was <br />gravel and sand in the riffles with sand and silt in the pools. <br />Foidel Creek is a small (0.5-1.5 m wide) stream that becomes intermittent <br />I during periods of low flow. At Station 1, the only permanent aquatic habitat <br />is a small reservoir. The stream bed itself is predominantly dry and choked <br />with grasses with few pools of standing water. Substrate in the pools was <br />sand and silt with some decaying organic debris. At the lower stations the <br />gradient averages only 0.4-0.5%. There was more water present at Station 2, <br />1 but there was no discernible flow. Substrate was primarly sand, clay and <br />silt. At Station 3, there was again no surface flow but rather a few uncon- <br />nected pools filled with growths of the filamentous green algae, Spirogyra. <br />Sand, clay and silt again dominated the sediment at this station. Flowing <br />water was evident at Station 4 due to the input of springs. Pools again had <br />some growth of Spirogyra and there were a few willows along the banks. Riffle <br />areas had substrate consisting of fine gravel and sand whereas the pools had <br />~ sand, clay and silt. <br />METHODS <br />i Location and degree of cover of aquatic macrophytes were mapped in a 50 m <br />section at Station 2 on Foidel Creek. Visual estimate technique was used to <br />obtain extent of coverage. <br />Benthic invertebrates of Foidel Creek and its unnamed tributary were <br />. collected July 31 - August 1, 1980. Where flowing water was present, two <br />-3- <br />