Section 319
NONPOINT SOORGE PROGRAM SOGGESS STORY
Installing Best Management Practices Improves Dissolved Oxygen Levels
in Camp Creek
Waterbodv Improved Low dissolved oxY9en (D°). attributed in part to practices
y ^ associated with cattle production, resulted in impairment of
Camp Creek. As a result, Oklahoma added the creek to the state's 2006 Clean Water Act
(CWA) section 303(d) list of impaired waters. Implementing best management practices
(BMPs) helped to reduce erosion from grazing lands by decreasing sediment and nutrient
runoff into the creeks. DO levels improved, prompting Oklahoma to nominate Camp Creek
for removal from the state's 2012 CWA section 303(d) list for its DO impairment.
Problem
Camp Creek is a 5-mile-long stream in Lincoln and
Creek counties in central Oklahoma (Figure 1). The
primary land use in the watershed is cattle produc-
tion. A lack of healthy riparian areas, combined
with runoff from livestock areas, grazing lands, and
areas with land-applied animal waste, contributed
to excess sedimentation and nutrients (including
animal waste) entering the creek. 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 in 2006 showed that
30 percent of the water samples in Camp Creek
were below (i.e., did not meet) state DO criteria for
warm-water aquatic communities. 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 Camp 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
through the local Natural Resources Conservation
Service (NRCS) Environmental Quality Incentives
Camp Creek Watershed
Figure 1. Camp Creek flows through agricultural land in central
Oklahoma.
Program, Conservation Stewardship Program, and
general technical assistance program. These projects
focused on keeping livestock away from the stream,
protecting the riparian area and improving grazing
land. One landowner installed a well to provide
livestock with an alternative watering source and
keep them out of the creek. To improve the condi-
tion of pasture and rangeland across the watershed,
agricultural producers implemented prescribed graz-
ing on 1,014 acres and developed nutrient manage-
ment plans for 60 acres. Producers practiced better
forage harvest management on 70 acres and applied
integrated pest management on 203 acres. Brush
management occurred on 417 acres and prescribed
burning took place on 99 acres after installing
1,380 feet of firebreak. Landowners managed upland
wildlife habitat on 1,032 acres.
-------
In addition, the Oklahoma Conservation
Commission's (OCC) education program, Blue
Thumb, actively promoted restoration efforts
in the Camp Creek watershed starting in 2006.
Volunteer training events were held in Chandler and
at Langston University. These activities provided
vital education of the residents of the watershed
and helped facilitate behavior changes to adopt
best practices to restore and maintain water quality.
Active volunteer monitoring and education efforts
continue in the area.
Current initiatives in Creek and Lincoln counties
include managing Eastern red cedar, controlling
waste from animal feeding operations and closing
failing animal waste lagoons. All of these efforts
should continue to improve water quality.
Results
The OCC's Rotating Basin Monitoring Program,
a statewide nonpoint source ambient monitoring
program, documented improved water quality in
Camp Creek after restoration efforts. To meet state
DO criteria for warm-water aquatic communities,
Camp 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
show that 30 percent of samples examined for a
2006 assessment fell below the critical DO level
and failed to meet state DO criteria.
Implemented practices and the accompanying
education of landowners helped reduce nutrients
entering the stream, which in turn improved DO lev-
els because algae were less likely to be overgrown
and die off. Data collected for a 2010 assessment
showed that 14 percent of samples fell below the
DO criteria (not yet meeting state DO criteria, but
showing improvement). In 2012, data showed that
only five percent of values fell below the critical DO
levels, which meets the state DO criteria (Figure 2).
As a result, Oklahoma has recommended that Camp
Creek be removed from the state's 2012 CWA sec-
tion 303(d) list of impaired waters for low DO levels.
1 Oxygen (mg/L)
O> Ul
| 5-
o
5 0-
Camp Creek
o
o
0 0-,
0 ^ 0
CDfe
03 °
o o
""b O c$> CP
n ^ n° ^ Q
0 0
8 30% 14% 5%
exceedance exceedance exceedance"
2006
2012
2010
Assessment Year
* Meets DO criteria (No more than 10 percent of samples fall below critical DO levels)
Figure 2. Data show that Camp Creek met state DO water
quality criteria in 2012.
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. Over the past decade, the Oklahoma cost-
share program provided $3,000 in state funding for
BMPs in this watershed through the Lincoln and
Creek County Conservation Districts. The NRCS has
spent approximately $20,000 to implement BMPs in
the watershed from 2006-2012. Landowners have
provided a significant percentage of the cost toward
BMP implementation.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Water
Washington, DC
EPA841-F-12-001II
August 2012
For additional information contact:
Shanon Phillips, Director
Water Quality Division
Oklahoma Conservation Commission
shanon.phillips@conservation.ok.gov
405-522-4500
------- |