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36 JNONPOINT source success story
Voluntary Conservation Programs Reduce Bacteria Concentrations
in Upper Salt Creek
Waterbody Improved
Elevated Escherichia coli (E. coli) levels, contributed by grazing and
hay production, resulted in the impairment of Upper Salt Creek
and placement on Oklahoma's Clean Water Act (CWA) section 303(d) list of impaired waters in 2010,
Implementation of conservation practice systems (CPs) promoted better quality grazing lands and
decreased E. coli levels in the creek. As a result, Upper Salt Creek was removed from Oklahoma's
2016 CWA section 303(d) list for E. coli. Upper Salt Creek now partially supports its primary body
contact (PBC) designated use.
Problem
Salt Creek flows through Osage County before dis-
charging to the Arkansas River in northern Oklahoma
(Figure 1). Its watershed is in the Flint Hills Ecoregion
and is comprised of tallgrass prairie on rolling hills with
relatively steep, narrow valleys composed of shale and
cherty limestone with rocky soils.
Land use in the 185,000-acre watershed is primarily
grasslands (85 percent) for beef cattle and hay produc-
tion. About 6 percent of the watershed is developed
land (primarily for highways and roads), 2 percent is
forested, and less than 4 percent of the watershed is
cropland.
Grazing and hayland management contributed to
excess E. coli in Salt Creek. The upper segment of
Salt Creek (43.97 miles) was listed as impaired for
bacteria in 2010 when the geometric mean of samples
violated Oklahoma's water quality standards. An
Oklahoma stream is considered to violate the E. coli
standard when the geometric mean of recreation
season samples exceeds 126 colony-forming units per
one hundred milliliters (CFU/lOOml). On the basis of
these assessment results, the Oklahoma Conservation
Commission (OCC) added the upper segment of Salt
Creek (OK621200040010_10) to the 2010 CWA section
303(d) list for nonattainment of the PBC designated
beneficial use.
Story Highlights
Landowners in the watershed worked with the Osage
County Conservation District, the U.S. Department of
Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service
(NRCS), and the OCC to implement CPs through
Oklahoma NRCS's Environmental Quality incentives
Program (EQIP) and general conservation technical
assistance program, and through the OCC's Locally
Led Cost Share Program (LLCP). From 2002 to 2017,
landowners improved many acres of pasture and hay
meadows, which reduced runoff of sediment and
other pollutants by decreasing erosion and better
utilizing available grazing lands (Table 1).
	
Figure 1. Salt Creek is in Osage County, Oklahoma.

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Table 1. CPs installed in the Salt Creek watershed.
Practice name
Amount installed
Upland wildlife habitat management
21,975 acres
Use exclusion
89 acres
Prescribed burning
22,000 acres
Pest management
25,051 acres
Forage harvest management
754 acres
Conservation crop rotation
512 acres
Prescribed grazing
84,316 acres
Conservation tillage
902 acres
Pond
8
Pasture and hayland planting
644 acres
Results
The OCC documented improved water quality in
Salt Creek through its statewide nonpoint source
Rotating Basin Ambient Monitoring Program.
Improvements were due to landowners implementing
CPs. The installed practices worked to decrease E. coli
concentrations. Monitoring data compiled for the
2010 integrated report had showed excessive E. coli
in Salt Creek (geomean of 282 CFU exceeded the
state criteria of 126 CFU). By 2016, E. coli values had
decreased to a geomean of 25 CFU. This decreasing
trend continues through the 2020 assessment
(Figure 2). On the basis of these data, Upper Salt Creek
was removed from the Oklahoma CWA section 303(d)
list for E. coli in 2016. Salt Creek is now in partial
support of its PBC beneficial use.
Partners and Funding
The OCC monitoring program is supported by
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) CWA
section 319 funding at an average annual statewide
cost of $1 million. Approximately $500,000 in EPA 319
funds support statewide water quality educational
efforts through Blue Thumb. Approximately $130,000
of these federal and state matching funds have been
devoted to Salt Creek. Working in partnership with
local conservation districts, NRCS supplied approxi-
mately $324,000 for implementation of CPs in the
watershed through NRCS EQIP. The LLCP provided
$16,084, which was matched by $30,436 from land-
owners. Many practices were funded by landowners
based on recommendations through NRCS general
technical assistance and conservation planning.
Upper Salt Creek E. coli
max =
geomean
1000
1 900
o
S 800
¦t! 700
3,500
282
3,500
296
2,500
25
2,000
41
600
E 500
400
_2 300
200
100
2010
2012
2016
2020
Figure 2. E. coli decreased in the upper segment of Salt Creek as producers improved
pasture management.
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U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Water
Washington, DC
EPA 841-F-19-001Y
October 2019
For additional information contact:
Shanon Phillips
Oklahoma Conservation Commission
405-522-4728 • shanon.phillips@conservation.ok.gov

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