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Section 319
NDNPDINT SOURCE PROGRAM SOGGESS STORY
Implementing Agricultural Best Management Practices Reduces Turbidity
in Deer Creek
Waterbody Improved
High turbidity, due in part to practices associated with wheat,
cattle and corn production, resulted in impairment of Deer
Creek and placement on Oklahoma's Clean Water Act (CWA) section 303(d) list in 2006.
Implementation of best management practices (BMPs) to promote better quality grazing
land and conservation cropping methods decreased sediment loading into the creek. As a
result, the entire 41-mile length of Deer Creek was removed from Oklahoma's 2010 CWA
section 303(d) list for turbidity impairment. Deer Creek is now in partial attainment of its
fish and wildlife propagation designated use.
Problem
Deer Creek is in Kay and Grant counties in northern
Oklahoma. Land use in the 98,322-acre watershed
is primarily wheat cropland, with rangeland and pas-
ture for cattle production, and some corn produc-
tion as well. An abundance of conventional farming
methods and poor grazing land management con-
tributed to excess sedimentation in the watershed.
In the 2006 water quality assessment, monitoring
showed that 17 percent of Deer Creek's seasonal
base flow water samples exceeded 50 nephelo-
metric turbidity units (NTU). A stream is considered
impaired by turbidity if more than 10 percent of the
seasonal base flow water samples exceed 50 NTU
(based on five years of data before the assessment
year). On the basis of these assessment results,
Oklahoma added the entire 41-mile-long Deer
Creek (OK621000040010 _ 00) to the 2006 CWA
section 303(d) list for nonattainment of the fish and
wildlife propagation designated use due to turbidity
impairment.
Deer Creek Watershed
Project Highlights
Landowners implemented BMPs with assistance
from Oklahoma's locally led cost-share program and
through the local U.S. Department of Agriculture's
Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS)
General Conservation Technical Assistance
Program, Conservation Reserve Program (CRP)and
Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP).
From 2006 to 2009, landowners reduced erosion
Figure 1. The Deer Creek watershed is in northern
Oklahoma.
potential from cropland through 3,278 acres of
no-till, strip-till, mulch-till and deep tillage methods,
coupled with 2,084 acres of conservation crop
rotations, 978 acres of conservation cover crops
and 1,198 acres of seasonal residue manage-
ment. In addition, one 600-foot diversion, more
than 16,000 linear feet of terraces and 47 acres of
grassed waterways were installed to slow runoff
from cropland. Improved grazing land condition was
accomplished through supplemental vegetation
planting on 1,878 acres, 888 acres of prescribed
grazing, and the installation of 9,067 feet of fencing,
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eight ponds, and one watering facility. More than
3,000 acres of upland wildlife habitat and 421 acres
of rare and declining habitat were managed and
improved through the CRP.
From 2010 to 2013, additional BMP implementation
further improved croplands and grazing lands and
kept erosion potential low. Landowners used no-till
cropping methods on 11,163 acres, with conser-
vation crop rotations on over 1,100 acres. One
1,161-foot diversion was installed, in addition to two
grade-stabilization structures, more than 20 acres
of grassed waterways and more than 35,600 feet of
terraces. Six additional ponds were installed, along
with more than 3,500 feet of fencing, to promote
optimal grazing on approximately 3,000 acres.
Nutrient management was implemented on
3,447 acres, and supplemental planting on more
than 300 acres helped enhance pasture condition.
Another 1,000 acres of upland wildlife habitat was
also properly managed.
The Oklahoma Conservation Commission's (OCC's)
education program, Blue Thumb, held volunteer
trainings in Kay County in 2005 and 2010. As a
result, several groups of volunteers monitored area
streams and helped educate area residents about
nonpoint source pollution prevention.
Results
The OCC's Rotating Basin Monitoring Program,
a statewide nonpoint source ambient monitoring
program, documented improved water quality in
Deer Creek due to landowners implementing BMPs.
In the 2006 assessment, 17 percent of seasonal
base flow water samples exceeded the turbidity
criteria of 50 NTU. This exceedance was reduced
to zero percent in 2010, and Deer Creek was
removed from Oklahoma's CWA section 303(d) list
for turbidity impairment. Deer Creek is currently in
partial attainment of the fish and wildlife propaga-
tion designated use and has been proposed for full
attainment in the 2014 integrated report based on
further improvements.
Deer Creek
120-
H 100-
—
=5 80"
5
,E 60-
o
H 40-
01
(C
oo 20-
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17% exceedance
0% exceedance
* .
_ •
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2006 2010
Assessment Year
Figure 2. Monitoring data indicate that base flow turbidity levels
in Deer Creek have declined.
Partners and Funding
The Rotating Basin Monitoring Program is supported
by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's CWA
section 319 program at an average annual cost of
$1 million. Monitoring costs include personnel,
supplies and lab analyses for 18 parameters from
samples collected every 5 weeks at about 100 sites.
In-stream habitat, fish and macroinvertebrate
samples are also collected. Approximately $600,000
in CWA section 319 funding supports statewide
education, outreach and monitoring efforts through
the Blue Thumb program. The Oklahoma cost-share
program provided approximately $16,500 in state
funding for BMPs in this watershed through the Kay
and Grant county conservation districts. NRCS spent
approximately $1.8 million for implementation of
BMPs in Kay and Grant counties from 2005 to 2009.
An additional $1 million was spent from 2010 to 2012
to maintain these practices and continue to pro-
mote good grazing land management. Landowners
provided a significant percentage of funding toward
BMP implementation in these programs as well.
UJ
(9
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Water
Washington, DC
EPA841-F-14-001AAA
September 2014
For additional information contact:
Shanon Phillips
Oklahoma Conservation Commission
405-522-4500 • shanon.phillips@conservation.ok.gov
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