Rich Walker, with the Department of Biology, Geology, and Environmental Science, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga acknowledges cold-water stream habitats are limited in the state of Iowa. Of the over 70,000 estimated miles of rivers and streams in the state, only about 500 miles in NE Iowa are thought to be cold-water. Many of these streams have yet to be fully assessed, which could lead to incorrect classification and management. Accurately classifying these streams will better inform policy makers and resource managers so these unique Iowa resources can be protected. The goal of our cold-water inventory is to improve our understanding of the distribution and status of cold-water streams within the Volga River drainage, a major tributary to the Turkey River watershed. Assessing stream habitat, water quality, and water temperatures throughout the Volga River drainage will allow us to better understand how abiotic stream conditions influence their biology. In addition, these assessments will provide cold-water stream reclassification recommendations to the Iowa DNR to improve the accuracy of Iowa’s surface water classification system.