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Conservation Efforts Sustained Through the National Water Quality
Initiative Reduce Turbidity in Turkey Creek (Garfield County)
\A/atprhnrl\/ lmnrn\/prl	tur'3'c'ity levels resulted in the impairment of Turkey Creek and
placement on Oklahoma's Clean Water Act (CWA) section 303(d) list
of impaired waters in 2004. Pollution from cropland, grazing and hay production areas contributed
to this impairment. Implementing conservation practice systems (CPs) to promote better cropland
and grazing lands management decreased turbidity levels in the creek. As a result, Turkey Creek
was removed from Oklahoma's 2012 CWA section 303(d) list for turbidity. Turkey Creek now fully
supports its fish and wildlife propagation (FWP) beneficial use.
Problem
Turkey Creek is an 82.59-mile stream that flows
through Alfalfa, Major, Garfield and Kingfisher coun-
ties in Oklahoma before joining the Cimarron River
(Figure 1). Land use in the 416-square-mile watershed
is approximately 61 percent row crop used almost
exclusively for winter wheat production. About
31 percent of the watershed is grazing lands for cattle
and hay production, and 14 percent of the watershed
is forested. Less than 2 percent of the watershed is
developed for towns and roads.
Challenges with cropland and grazing lands man-
agement contributed to the stream being listed
as impaired for turbidity in 2004 when 25 percent
of samples collected at seasonal baseflow were
higher than 50 nephelometric turbidity units (NTU).
The FWP designated use is considered impaired
if more than 10 percent of baseflow samples are
greater than 50 NTU. Oklahoma added Turkey Creek
(OK620910060010_00) to the 2004 CWA section
303(d) list for nonattainment of its FWP beneficial use.
Legend
Monitoring Sites
— Turkey Creek Streams
Turkey Creek Watershed
Project Highlights
Landowners in the watershed worked with the Alfalfa,
Major, Garfield and Kingfisher county conserva-
tion districts, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's
(USDA's) Natural Resources Conservation Service
(NRCS), USDA Farm Services Agency (FSA) and the
Oklahoma Conservation Commission (OCC) to imple-
ment CPs through Oklahoma NRCS's Environmental
Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), Conservation
Security Program (CSP), Conservation Stewardship
Figure 1. Turkey Creek is in north-central Oklahoma.
Program (CStwP), Wetland Reserve Program (WRP),
Grazing Lands Conservation Initiative (GLC) and
general conservation technical assistance program;
FSA's Conservation Reserve Program (CRP); and
Oklahoma's Locally Led Cost-Share Program (LLCP).
The watershed was also selected for NRCS's National
Water Quality Initiative (NWQI) partnership with the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which
brought additional resources for CP installation.
Landowners focused on reducing erosion and pollutant
runoff from cropland and grazing lands in the water-
shed primarily by reducing tillage and increasing cover
on cropped fields. CPs included 19,073 acres of no-till,
5,126 acres of reduced tillage, 364 acres of mulch-till,

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Turkey Creek Turbidity
% exceedance: 25% 11% 11% 11% 3% 6% 3%
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2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016

Figure 2. Turbidity levels decreased as conservation
practice installation increased in the watershed.
791 acres of strip-till, 3,739 acres of seasonal residue
management and 788 acres of cover crops.
Other practices included 696 acres of access con-
trol, deep tillage on 2,944 acres, 7,031 acres of
conservation crop rotation, 171 acres of contour
farming, 2,264 acres of forage and biomass plant-
ing, 3,958 feet of diversion, 117 acres of critical area
planting, 9 grade stabilization structures, 1,495 acres
of nutrient application no more than 30 days prior to
planting, 806 acres of conservation cover, 629 acres
of forage harvest management, 2.6 acres of filter
strips, 87 acres of grassed waterways, 1,834 feet of
cross-fencing, 3,194 acres of integrated pest manage-
ment, 5,924 acres of nutrient management, 14 ponds,
4,810 acres of prescribed grazing, 4 watering facil-
ity pumps, 508 acres of range planting, 1.8 acres of
riparian herbaceous cover, 81,648 feet of terrace,
5 acres of tree establishment, 949 acres of upland
wildlife habitat management, 7 wells, 1 weli decom-
missioning, 3 watering facilities, 4 wetland restorations
on 913 acres, 1,073 acres of wetiand wildlife habitat
management, and 2,143 acres of windbreak and
shelterbelts.
Additional practices installed included GPS-enabled
precision techniques such as Smart Sprayer-targeted
chemical application on 119 acres and precision nutri-
ent application on 375 acres. Deep-rooted crops were
used on 297 acres to reduce soil compaction and drift-
reducing nozzles were used on 290 acres to reduce
pesticide drift. Irrigation was improved with 3 acres of
micro-irrigation and 3,215 feet of irrigation pipeline.
Figure 3. Turkey Creek now fully supports its FWP
beneficial use.
Results
The OCC documented improved water quality In the
Turkey Creek due to landowners implementing CPs. The
installed CPs worked to decrease soil erosion and pol-
lutant loading to downstream waterbodies. Monitoring
data compiled for the 2004 Integrated Report showed
that Turkey Creek turbidity levels violated state stan-
dards when 25 percent of seasonal baseflow samples
were greater than 50 NTU. However, by the 2012
assessment, only 3 percent of samples violated the
criteria (Figure 2). On the basis of these data, Turkey
Creek was removed from the Oklahoma CWA section
303(d) list for turbidity in 2012 and remains supporting
through at least 2016. This change results in fuil sup-
port of the creek's FWP beneficial use (Figure 3).
Partners and Funding
The OCC monitoring program is supported by EPA CWA
section 319 funds at an average annual statewide cost
of $1 million. Approximately $500,000 in EPA CWA
section 319 funds support statewide water quality
educational efforts through Blue Thumb. From 2004
to 2010, NRCS supplied approximately $925,000 for
implementation of CPs in the watershed through NRCS
EQIP and the NWQI. Additional funds were provided
through FSA for CRP, and through NRCS for CSP, CstwP,
WRP, and GLC practices. The Oklahoma LLCP provided
$35,698 matched by $36,150 from landowners. In
addition, a large number of practices were funded by
landowners based on recommendations through NRCS
general technical assistance and conservation planning.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Water
Washington, DC
W .1
^ EPA 841-F-17-001K
pR0*t^° August 2017
For additional information contact:
Shanon Phillips
Oklahoma Conservation Commission
405-522-4728 • shanon.phillips@conservation.ok.gov

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