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Section 319
NONPOINT
PROGRAM SUCCESS STORY
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New Grazing Practices Minimize Impacts on Little Shoal Creek
Waterbody Improved
The Little Shoal Creek in south-central Tennessee was
clogged with silt from pasture grazing and other agricul-
tural activities. Pasture management practices were successfully implemented to reduce
erosion and pollution transport to the creek, allowing the creek to be removed from
Tennessee's 303(d) list.
Problem
Overgrazing and poor pasture management
caused heavy erosion in Little Shoal Creek
in Lawrence County, Tennessee. A macro-
invertebrate sample collected in 1999
demonstrated values below expectations
for biological communities in the Western
Highland Rim ecoregion. Based on these
results, Little Shoal Creek was added to the
state's 303(d) list in 2002 as impaired due to
siltation from pasture grazing.
Project Highlights
To combat erosion, BMPs were implemented
on the land surrounding Little Shoal Creek
and its two tributaries, Crossfield Branch and
Fourmile Hollow. To control and minimize the
impacts of agriculture, farm conservation prac-
tices, including conservation tillage, cropland
conversion, pasture renovation, and hay plant-
ing, were implemented. In addition, red clover
and other legumes were introduced to improve
ground cover in bare areas. Installing grassed
waterways on 150 acres of farmland near
streams and tributaries has helped to prevent
gully erosion and reduce pollutants carried by
runoff water to streams. Farmers also use the
grassed areas periodically for grazing livestock.
Results
The increased ground cover and installation
of grassed waterways have resulted in less
soil erosion and siltation in the stream, reduc-
ing the amount of pollutants entering the
streams and improving water quality. Another
macroinvertebrate sample collected in 2003
demonstrated thattaxa richness had more
than doubled to 28, as compared to only 12 in
1999—an indicator of good water quality as
measured by the higher diversity and types of
organisms living in the stream. These metric
values are within the guidelines for the eco-
region and would score 13 on the genus-level
Taxa
Richness
EPT
Intolerant
Taxa
• 1999
D2003
Macroinvertebrate taxa groups found in 1999 and 2003 from Little
Shoal Creek in Lawrence County.
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biological reconnaissance (biorecon) index,
which considers scores from 11 to 15 indica-
tive of a non-impaired biological community.
As a result of the restoration efforts, Little
Shoal Creek was removed from Tennessee's
303(d) list in 2004.
Partners and Funding
The U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural
Resources Conservation Service and the
Lawrence County Soil Conservation District
spearheaded the effort to design and imple-
ment many of the BMPs. The project cost a
total of $44,800, including funding from the
Agricultural Resources Conservation Fund
(ARCF) and $10,000 of Clean Water Act section
319 funding, which was used for pasture/hay
planting.
I
5
Q
'. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
\ Office of Water
a Washington, DC
EPA841-F-05-004R
August 2005
For additional information contact:
Sam Marshall, PhD
Tennessee Department of Agriculture
615-837-5306
sam.marshall@state.tn.us
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