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Bryant Creek Tributaries Water quality Demonstration Project
The proposed boundary of this watershed project is Bryant Creek and its' tributaries within Douglas and Ozark counties. Bryant Creek empties into Norfolk Lake, a public water supply for the city of Mountain Home, Arkansas. The watershed is approximately 250,000 acres with more than 70 dairies, approximately 5,000 head of dairy cattle and an estimated 14,000 head of beef cattle. The water quality of Bryant Creek and its tributaries is potentially degraded by the presence of these dairy and beef cattle operations. Animal wastes, coming off-site from concentrated animal feeding areas, dairy milking parlors, loafing areas, improper rates and timing of manure applications to overgrazed fields and from direct deposition of animal wastes into creeks, have negative impacts on fish and other wildlife dependent on the streams for habitats and also for recreational users of the water resources. The project will last from November 15, 1997 to November 14, 2002
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
The primary impacts the animal wastes have on Bryant Creek watershed are nutrient loading through runoff. The nutrients of concern are nitrogen and phosphorous. High bacteria levels (fecal coliform and fecal streptococcus) and other pathogens are also a concern to recreational users of Bryant Creek, particularly swimmers, fisherman and canoeists. Douglas County and Ozark County rank 7th and 14th respectively in the state in milk cows and 21st and 33rd in the state respectively in beef cattle. Livestock wastes produced from these enterprises are considered to be a major water quality concern along with the excessive sedimentation caused by erosion in over-grazed pasture land and the lack of established riparian areas along streams of the watershed. Within the proposed project area, there are currently only two permitted dairies, one in Douglas and one in Ozark County. The upper end of the watershed, located in north central Douglas County, has the greatest concentration of animal feeding operations with more than forty dairies.
OBJECTIVES
The NRCS will hire a full-time nutrient management specialist/conservationist whose primary responsibility will be to coordinate the activities of the project area. Technical support will also be provided by NRCS field office and area office staff in the design and installation of animal waste management systems. These NRCS staffs will also provide assistance in developing resource and nutrient management plans for landowners in the watershed area. Staff will develop 40 nutrient management plans written to address the vegetative filter strips along concentrated animal feeding/traffic areas, proper nutrient management through proper timing and spreading of manure applications, and intensive/rotational grazing systems establishment.
There will be three animal waste management demonstration farms installed, four grazing management demonstration farms installed, and three riparian corridor management protection farms installed with alternative watering systems demonstrated. Once these demonstration farms have been established, there will be one tour or field day the first year demonstrating an intensive/rotational grazing system; two the second and third years demonstrating animal waste management systems, intensive/rotational grazing systems, and riparian corridor establishment and protection with alternative watering systems; and four the fourth and fifth years demonstrating the same systems as shown in the second and third years. To complement these animal waste demonstration systems and to assist other operations within the watershed in the proper utilization of animal wastes, animal waste spreading equipment will be purchased the first year of the project.
There will also be volunteer monitoring of Bryant Creek to determine trends in water quality within the stream. This monitoring will be conducted by stream teams trained in water quality monitoring.
PRODUCTS
Information, education and technology transfer will be accomplished through the use of informational materials, demonstration field days, news articles, SWCD newsletters, radio public information programs and the Neighbor-to Neighbor program sponsored by the Douglas and Ozark County SWCDs. Soil and effluent testing, along with volunteer stream team monitoring, will also be methods by which this is accomplished. The target audience will primarily be beef and dairy producers within Bryant Creek watershed.
Successes will be documented by the implementation of BMPs which will be written into resource and nutrient management plans for landowners in the watersheds. The BMP implementation used to measure the success of this project will be the installations of successful animal waste management systems, acres of pasture land put under intensive/rotational grazing management systems, lengths of riparian corridors established and streambanks stabilized and protected, numbers of alternative watering systems installed, tons of manure properly utilized, and general changes of attitudes by landowners in the watershed as determined by surveys.
PROJECT SPONSOR
Douglas and Ozark Counties' Soil and Water Conservation Districts
COOPERATING AGENCY
EPA/DNR
CONTACT
Douglas County SWCD
P. O. Box 837
Ava, MO 65608
Mr. Gregory B. Watkins 417-683-4816
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