This document reports on analyses and other efforts to evaluate various aspects of the monitoring protocols relevant to the big river parks, and serves as an administrative history and record of decisions made during the revision process. The primary purpose of this report is to document evaluation of potential changes to the monitoring of fish and aquatic invertebrates at BUFF and OZAR. Changes that have been considered include sampling fewer sites, sampling less frequently, collecting fewer invertebrate samples per site, collecting data on fewer habitat variables, and not collecting data on fish lengths and weights. Based on this review, recommendations are made for revising the protocols associated with sampling and analysis of data from the big river systems of BUFF and OZAR.

Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve (TAPR) is the first National Park Service area established specifically for the preservation, protection, and interpretation of a tallgrass prairie ecosystem. The Heartland Inventory and Monitoring Network began monitoring water quality and invertebrate community structure of two streams (Palmer Creek and Fox Creek) within TAPR's boundary during September 2009. A Surber stream bottom sampler was used to collect 9 benthic samples from each stream. Habitat data were collected from the sampling net frame, and water quality data were recorded hourly using a data logger. This report summarizes baseline aquatic invertebrate monitoring data.

This document details the objectives of current monitoring program including 1) determine the status and trends of invertebrate species diversity, abundance, and community metrics, and 2) relate the invertebrate community to overall water quality through quantification of metrics related to species richness, abundance, diversity, and region-specific multi-metric indices as indicators of water quality and habitat condition.