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Section 319
NDNPDINT SOURCE PROGRAM SOGGESS STORY
Goose Creek Turbidity Declines After Agricultural Best Management
Practice Implementation
Waterbody Improved
High turbidity, due in part to practices associated with
cattle production, resulted in impairment of Goose Creek
and placement on Oklahoma's Clean Water Act (CWA) section 303(d) list in 2008.
Implementation of best management practices (BMPs) to promote better quality grazing
land decreased sediment loading into the creek. As a result, the entire 15-mile length of
Goose Creek was removed from Oklahoma's 2012 CWA section 303(d) list for turbidity
impairment. Goose Creek is now in partial attainment of its fish and wildlife propagation
designated use, and work continues in the watershed to address other impairments.
Problem
Goose Creek is in Pontotoc and Coal counties in
south-central Oklahoma. Land use in the 18,746-
acre watershed is primarily rangeland and pasture
for cattle production. Poor grazing land manage-
ment contributed to excess sedimentation in the
watershed. In the 2008 water quality assessment,
monitoring showed that 12 percent of Goose
Creek's seasonal base flow water samples exceed-
ed 50 nephelometric 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 assess-
ment results, Oklahoma added the entire 15-mile-
long Goose Creek (OK410400030490 _ 00) to the
2008 CWA section 303(d) list for nonattainment of
the fish and wildlife propagation designated use
due to turbidity impairment.
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 and Environmental Quality Incentives
Program (EQIP). From 2008 to 2011, landown-
ers improved pasture and range condition with
410 acres of prescribed grazing, 1,685 linear feet of
fencing, 325 acres of integrated pest management,
21 acres of nutrient management and supplemental
Figure 1. The Goose Creek watershed is in south central
Oklahoma.
planting, installation of one pond and 2,572 acres
of upland wildlife habitat management. In 2012 and
2013, an additional 620 acres of prescribed grazing
further improved pastures and kept erosion poten-
tial low.
The Oklahoma Conservation Commission's (OCC's)
educational program, Blue Thumb, held volunteer
trainings in the area in 2004 and 2010. As a result,
there are several active groups in this area, includ-
ing a group from East Central State University and a
group from the Chickasaw tribe. Blue Thumb volun-
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teers monitor area streams on a monthly basis after
attending a 2-day intensive training workshop that
focuses on nonpoint source pollution abatement.
Volunteers also assist with educational outreach in
the community.
Results
The OCC's Rotating Basin Monitoring Program, a
statewide nonpoint source ambient monitoring pro-
gram, documented improved water quality in Goose
Creek due to landowners implementing BMPs. In
the 2008 assessment, 12 percent of seasonal base
flow water samples exceeded the turbidity criteria
of 50 NTU. This exceedance was reduced to zero
percent in 2012, and Goose Creek was removed
from Oklahoma's CWA section 303(d) list for turbid-
ity impairment. Goose Creek is now in partial attain-
ment of the fish and wildlife propagation designated
use, with work continuing in the watershed to
address the other parameters impairing the use.
Partners and Funding
The Rotating Basin Monitoring Program is support-
ed 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 sam-
ples are also collected. Approximately $600,000
in CWA section 319 funding supports statewide
education, outreach and monitoring efforts through
Goose Creek
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2008 2012
Assessment Year
Figure 2. Monitoring data indicate that base flow turbidity levels
in Goose Creek have declined.
the Blue Thumb program. The Oklahoma cost-share
program provided approximately $1,000 in state
funding for BMPs in this watershed through the
Coal County Conservation District. NRCS spent
approximately $845,000 for implementation of
BMPs in Coal and Pontotoc counties from 2008 to
2011. An additional $33,000 was spent from 2012
to 2013 to maintain these practices and continue
to promote 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
Doc # EPA 841-F-14-001BBB
September 2014
For additional information contact:
Shanon Phillips
Oklahoma Conservation Commission
405-522-4500 • shanon.phillips@conservation.ok.gov
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