BirdTrout
Valley River, Minnesota
14.0 mapped river miles, draining 60 square miles, in the Little Fork basin watershed. No gauge stands in it; the nearest is 36.1 miles away, and it is the only temperature evidence on this page — what Minnesota DNR publishes is the Chapter 6264 listing below — a land-use protection under Minnesota Rules, not a thermometer.
50°F and colder is cold, through cold-transitional and cool, to warm above 70°F — the same four bands, breaking at 58, 64 and 70°F, that the app paints. Grey is water nobody has measured.
The nearest live reading
The nearest gauge is 36.3 miles away, at Little Fork River Blw County Hwy 217 In Littlefork — not a reading of this water, but of what the region is doing today. A closer gauge has stopped reporting — USGS carries no water-temperature series for it at all, so no number here comes from it.
Thermal classification
There isn't one. Minnesota DNR publishes no temperature classification for any water in Minnesota. What it publishes is the Chapter 6264 listing below — a land-use protection under Minnesota Rules, not a thermometer — so this river draws grey on the map above, and grey here means unmeasured rather than warm. The only temperature on this page is the live reading from the nearest USGS gauge, 36.1 miles away; it is a reading of that water, not this one.
Questions about this river
- Valley River fishing report — what it reads right now
- How to get to the Valley River — access, parking and public land
- Valley River fishing regulations — season, size and gear by reach
MN DNR trout stream designation
MN DNR lists Valley River under Minnesota Rules Chapter 6264 as designated trout stream. Chapter 6264 is a land-use rule — its stated purpose is timber harvest and watershed permitting, with recreation second. It is not the season and creel rules, which change yearly and live with the agency, and it is not a statement about temperature.
MN DNR designated trout streams →
Public land on the river
3 units of public or open-access land touch this river, 413,912 acres in total. Acreage is the whole unit, not the part beside the water.
| Unit | Owner | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| Koochiching | Minnesota DNR | 318,363 |
| Valley River Ama (Itasca) | Minnesota DNR | 52 |
| George Washington | Minnesota DNR | 95,497 |
Species
Minnesota DNR designates this as trout water — Designated trout stream — without naming the species. No fish survey or stocking record for this water is in the files this site reads.
Tributaries and watershed
Valley River sits in HUC 8 09030005, the Little Fork basin, and drains 60 square miles, Strahler order 4 at the mouth. 24 NHD reaches carry the name for 25.8 miles in total — more than the 14.0 miles of drawn mainstem, because NHD counts side channels and braids as their own reaches.
Other water nearby
The closest 6 rivers on this site, straight-line from the middle of this one — not drive time.