Section 319
NONPOINT SOURCE PROGRAM SOCGESS STORY
Installing Agricultural Best Management Practices Improves Dissolved
Oxygen Levels in Duck Pond Creek
Waterbodv Improved Low dissolved oxY9en (DO)- due in Partto Practices
''"' "" " associated with widespread livestock and wheat production,
led to the impairment of Duck Pond Creek. As a result, Oklahoma added the creek to the
state's Clean Water Act (CWA) section 303(d) list of impaired waters in 2006. Implementing
best management practices (BMPs) to promote better quality grazing land and cropland
decreased the amount of sediment, nutrients and bacteria reaching the creek. Water quality
improved, prompting Oklahoma to remove Duck Pond Creek from the state's 2010 CWA
section 303(d) list for DO impairment. Duck Pond Creek now fully supports its fish and
wildlife propagation designated use.
Problem
Duck Pond Creek, in northwestern Oklahoma's
Beaver County, is a 40-mile-long tributary to the
Beaver/North Canadian River. Land use in the water-
shed includes mostly cattle and wheat production.
Poor grazing land and cropland management,
as well as a lack of healthy riparian buffer areas,
contributed to excess sedimentation, nutrient and
bacteria runoff in the watershed. Excess nutrients,
in turn, can lead to the overgrowth of nuisance
algae, and the subsequent breakdown of the algae
can then cause DO levels to decrease.
Water quality assessments showed that DO levels
in Duck Pond Creek fell below (i.e., did not meet)
state DO criteria for warm-water aquatic communi-
ties. A waterbody is considered impaired for DO
if more than 10 percent of samples (based on no
more than five years of data before the assessment
year) fall below 6.0 milligrams per liter (mg/L) from
April 1 through June 15 or below 5.0 mg/L during
the remainder of the year. On the basis of these
assessment results, Oklahoma added Duck Pond
Creek to the 2006 and subsequent CWA section
303(d) lists for failing to support the fish and wildlife
propagation designated use due to DO impairment.
Project Highlights
Landowners implemented BMPs with assistance
from Oklahoma's locally led cost-share program and
Figure 1. Duck Pond Creek flows through an
agricultural region in northwestern Oklahoma.
through the local Natural Resources Conservation
Service (NRCS) Environmental Quality Incentives
Program, No-Till Local Emphasis Area program,
Conservation Stewardship Program, Conservation
Reserve Program and general technical assistance
program. These projects focused on reducing ero-
sion by improving cropland and grazing land. Since
nutrients are often bound to soil particles, reducing
soil erosion also reduces nutrient loading in streams
and can then lead to improved DO levels. In addi-
tion, because Duck Pond Creek is in the Beaver and
Cimarron River NRCS Local Emphasis Area, some
projects have focused on increasing the amount of
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water flow in these rivers, primarily through removal
of brush species such as Eastern red cedar, salt
cedar and Russian olive. Increased water flow can
lead to increased DO levels.
In the Duck Pond Creek watershed, agricultural pro-
ducers planted 781 acres of cover crops, performed
contour farming on 247 acres, and implemented
no-till, strip-till or mulch-till on 1,259 acres. Nutrient
management was implemented on 2,483 acres of
cropland, along with 2,230 acres of integrated pest
management. Rangeland improvements included
358 acres of prescribed grazing, 543 acres of
conservation cover, 37 acres of pasture planting,
11,000 feet of cross-fencing, 4.5 acres of heavy-use
area protection and 950 acres of upland wildlife
habitat management. Producers also installed four
watering facilities and two wells.
Results
The Oklahoma Conservation Commission's Rotating
Basin Monitoring Program, a statewide nonpoint
source ambient monitoring program, documented
improved water quality in Duck Pond Creek after
restoration efforts. To meet state DO criteria for
warm-water aquatic communities, Duck Pond
Creek samples must not fall below critical DO
levels (5.0 or 6.0 mg/L, depending on the season)
more than 10 percent of the time. Monitoring data
examined for the 2006 assessment showed that
32 percent of samples fell below the critical DO
levels and failed to meet state DO criteria.
Implemented practices and the accompanying
education of landowners helped reduce nutri-
ents entering the stream, which in turn helped
to improve levels of DO because algae were less
likely to be overgrown and die off. Data collected
for the 2010 and 2012 assessments show that DO
levels improved over time and now meet state DO
criteria—only 10 percent fell below the critical DO
levels in 2010 and nine percent fell below in 2012
assessment (Figure 2). Because DO levels met state
criteria, Oklahoma removed Duck Pond Creek from
the state's 2010 CWA section 303(d) list for DO
Oxygen (mg/L)
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DuckPond Creek
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32% 10%
exceedance exceedance*
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9%
exceedance*
2006 2010 2012
Assessment Year
Meets DO criteria (No more than 10 percent of samples fall below critical DO level
Figure 2. Data show that DO levels in Duck Pond Creek
have met state DO criteria for warm-water aquatic
communities since 2010.
impairment. The creek now fully supports its fish
and wildlife propagation designated use.
Partners and Funding
The Rotating Basin Monitoring Program, which
includes both fixed and probabilistic components,
is supported with U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) CWA section 319 funds at an aver-
age annual cost of $1 million. Monitoring costs
include personnel, supplies and lab analysis for
19 parameters from samples collected every five
weeks at about 100 sites. In-stream habitat, fish
and macroinvertebrate samples are also collected.
Approximately $600,000 in EPA CWA section 319
funding supports statewide education, outreach
and monitoring efforts through the Blue Thumb
program. The Oklahoma cost-share program has
provided $6,400 in state funding for BMPs in the
Duck Pond Creek watershed since 2004 through
the Beaver County Conservation District. The NRCS
spent approximately $41,455 in the Duck Pond
Creek watershed from 2006-2011. Landowners pro-
vided a significant percentage of the cost (usually
40-60 percent) toward BMP implementation.
UJ
(9
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Water
Washington, DC
EPA841-F-12-001FF
August 2012
For additional information contact:
Shanon Phillips, Director
Water Quality Division
Oklahoma Conservation Commission
shanon.phillips@conservation.ok.gov
405-522-4500
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