Section 319
NUNPUINT SUURCE PROGRAM SUCCESS STORY
Implementing Agricultural Best Management Practices Improves
Water Quality in Cloyd Creek
I , Pasture grazing activities and livestock in the stream along
\J U WU Tennessee's Cloyd Creek contributed to silt runoff and physical
substrate habitat alterations that degraded water quality. As a result, the Tennessee Department of
Environment and Conservation (TDEC) added the creek to the state's 2002 Clean Water Act (CWA)
section 303(d) list of impaired waters due to siltation and physical substrate habitat alterations.
Landowners installed numerous agricultural best management practices (BMPs) along Cloyd Creek,
including fencing for livestock exclusion, heavy-use areas with watering facilities for livestock,
and cropland conversion. Water quality improved, prompting TDEC to remove Cloyd Creek from
Tennessee's list of impaired waters for siltation and physical substrate habitat alterations in 2010.
Problem
Cloyd Creek is an 11.3-mile stream in the Fort
Loudoun Lake Outlet watershed (Figure 1), which
is a part of the larger Fort Loudoun Lake/Watts Bar
watershed. The Fort Loudoun area is very historic.
The fort was built in 1756 to help defend the
Cherokee and British settlers during conflict with
French soldiers. The Fort Loudoun Lake watershed
lies within the Blue Ridge Mountains and Ridge
Valley; this area contains seven Level IV ecoregions.
Cloyd Creek is in ecoregion 67f of the Fort Loudoun
Lake watershed in the Southern Limestone/
Dolomite Valleys (low rolling ridges and valleys).
The predominant land uses in the watershed are
forest (63.6 percent) and agriculture (19.2 percent).
Urban areas represent approximately 10.9 percent
of the total drainage area. Pasture grazing activi-
ties created siltation problems and altered physical
substrate habitat in Cloyd Creek.
Biological reconnaissance (biorecon) is one tool
used to recognize stream impairment using species
richness measures. The biorecon index is scored
on a scale from 1 to 15, where a score of less than
5 is considered very poor, and a score of more than
10 is considered good. The principal metrics used
are the total number of macroinvertebrate families
found in a stream.
Results from 1999 monitoring sites on the creek
showed five macroinvertebrate families, zero
pollution-intolerant species, and a biorecon score
of 5. This location also received a habitat score
of 90, falling below the 131 habitat goal set for
Legend
• BMFurilalkd
Stream Assessment TDEC
- Cloyd Creek
Fully Supporting
Not Assessed
— Not Supporting
I Towriof Friendsvillfi
I I Fortloudoun lake Outlet Watershed
0 0.75 1.5
I . i . I .
i rii i'b
l_l
Nolc: 1 dol rrwiy represent more than 1 BMP
Figure 1. Cloyd Creek is in the Fort Loudoun Lake
Outlet watershed. The dots indicate the locations of
BMPs installed.
this subecoregion. As a result, TDEC added Cloyd
Creek (Waterbody ID TN060102011015-1000)
to Tennessee's 2006 CWA section 303(d) list of
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Figure 2. Landowners installed BMPs like this
watering system for livestock, which includes
exclusion fencing and heavy-use area protection.
impaired waters for siltation and physical substrate
habitat alterations. The waterbody was also listed
as impaired for Escherichia coli bacteria. TDEC
developed total maximum daily loads (TMDLs) for
the larger Fort Loudoun Lake watershed, including
one for pathogens (including E. coli} in 2005 and
one for siltation and habitat alteration in 2006.
Project Highlights
BMPs were installed along Cloyd Creek and in the
surrounding watershed from 1999 through 2011
to reduce siltation and physical substrate habitat
alterations. BMPs installed within the watershed
included 2.5 acres of critical area planting, one
pond, 2,000 feet of fence, 3,762 feet of fencing
for livestock exclusion, 4,540 feet of fencing for
rotational grazing systems, one grade stabilization
structure, 62 acres of pasture and hay planting,
20 acres of cropland conversion, 43 acres of pas-
ture renovation, 5,936 feet of pipeline, 13 heavy-use
areas, a stream crossing, and 13 watering facilities
(Figures 2 and 3). Figure 1 shows the location of the
BMPs installed along the creek.
Results
After the installation of BMPs in the watershed,
the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) performed a
biorecon study on Cloyd Creek. Cloyd Creek scored
13 out of a possible 15, a very good score in this
ecoregion. In addition to TVA's monitoring, TDEC
performed a Semi-Quantitative Single Habitat
Assessment (SQSH) at mile 1.5 of Cloyd Creek. The
SQSH test measures water quality compliance for
fish and aquatic life in a stream. The monitoring sta-
tion scored 38 on the Tennessee Macroinvertebrate
Figure 3. Fencing restricts livestock access to this
pond when the water is not clean. A heavy-use area
ramp helps to reduce sedimentation.
Index, with 10 macroinvertebrate genera and
30 total macroinvertebrates. The habitat score was
132, a good score. As a result of the water quality
improvements in Cloyd Creek, an 11.3-mile portion
of the stream was removed from Tennessee's CWA
section 303(d) list for siltation and physical sub-
strate habitat alterations in 2010. Water quality in
Cloyd Creek has improved, but the stream remains
listed as impaired for £ coli bacteria.
Partners and Funding
Many federal and state agencies, local organiza-
tions, and individual landowners worked together
to improve water quality in the Cloyd Creek
watershed. Key partners for the project include
the Loudon County Soil Conservation District, the
Blount County Soil Conservation District, TDEC,
the Tennessee Valley Authority, and the U.S.
Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources
Conservation Service (NRCS) and landowners in the
watershed. NRCS staff consulted with landown-
ers and provided BMP design and verification to
ensure that NRCS conservation practice standards
for BMPs were met, except where justification was
provided for different standards.
Funding for Cloyd Creek BMPs included $28,885
in CWA section 319 grant pool funds, with local
matching funds of $13,637. Local landowners
contributed $10,574 to the project. The Agricultural
Resources Conservation Fund (a fund created
through Tennessee's real estate transfer tax)
provided another $26,994 in cost-share funds to
help Tennessee landowners install BMPs. U.S.
Department of Agriculture Farm Bill funds also sup-
ported installation of practices from 2004 to 2011.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Water
Washington, DC
EPA841-F-14-00100
July 2014
For additional information contact:
Sam Marshall
Tennessee Department of Agriculture
615-837-5306 • Sam.Marshall@tn.gov
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