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Elk River Water Quality Demonstration
The 483,000-acre Elk River Basin located within Missouri consists of Indian Creek, Little Sugar Creek, Big Sugar Creek, Buffalo Creek, Elk River, and their tributaries. The watershed is located in the most southwestern part of Missouri in McDonald, Newton, and Barry counties. The Elk River flows westerly entering Grand Lake of the Cherokees north of Grove, Oklahoma. The entire Elk River Basin drains about 870 square miles in Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Missouri.
Approximately 6,000 people live in the Elk River Basin. The basin is estimated at 68 percent grassland, 25 percent forest land, and 7 percent other--water, roads, farmsteads. There are about 1,500 farms/cooperators in the watershed (about 275 of these are confinement operations).
Sources of pollutants within the Elk River Basin may include municipal and septic system wastes, livestock and poultry manure/litter, fertilizers, pesticides, sediment/erosion, and recreational use of the streams (human contact with streams and trash).
The Elk River, along with the Neosho and Spring rivers, flows into the Grand Lake of the Cherokees. According to a Missouri Department of Natural Resources (MDNR) report on the Grand Lake of the Cherokees, fecal strep and certain nutrients including phosphorus and nitrogen have been identified as posing a threat to the overall quality of that lake. Therefore, excessive nutrients are potential problems and concerns to the tributaries, springs and ground water resources within the drainage basin of the Grand Lake of the Cherokees.
PRODUCT DESCRIPTION
This project will compliment the existing Poultry Litter/Nutrient Management Demonstration in the Upper Shoal Creek Watershed. In the Shoal Creek 319 project, poultry litter and soil samples are being taken on ten demonstration farms to develop nutrient budgets that tell how much litter should be applied to the land. Information learned from the Upper Shoal Creek Watershed will be used to the benefit of the cooperators and residents in the Elk River Basin and the rest of the poultry producing counties. The Elk River Water Quality Demonstration will show various practices. Landowners will be able to visit nearby farms within the basin to learn techniques to improve water quality.
OBJECTIVES
The purpose of this project is to help prevent pollution through the use of demonstrations, water and soil quality monitoring, information/education, and technical assistance. The project will demonstrate four poultry litter stacking shelters, two litter hauling seminars, six grower nutrient management sites, two septic system maintenance/clean-outs, three riparian corridor repair and management sites, and three livestock and pasture management systems. The Elk River Water Quality Demonstration project will illustrate various practices that if implemented will contribute to improved water quality in the watershed.
PRODUCTS
An Elk River Basin brochure will be produced to increase water quality awareness. Stacking shelter guidance materials will be produced and distributed. Soil samples will be taken on farms within the watershed during the project period. A video will be produced explaining nutrient management. Fact sheets, newsletters, news releases, and radio programs will be used to promote the practices demonstrated through the project.
Project period: January 1, 2000--December 31, 2004
PROJECT SPONSOR
Southwest Missouri Resource Conservation and Development Council, Inc.
COOPERATING AGENCIES
NRCS; MOARK Productions; Simmons Industries, Inc.; Tyson Foods, Inc.; Missouri Poultry Federation; contract growers; litter haulers; livestock producers; Elk River Advisory Committee; McDonald, Newton, and Barry County Soil and Water Conservation Districts; Missouri Department of Conservation; McDonald, Newton, and Barry County Health Departments; septic system contractors; University Extension; United States Geological Survey; Missouri DNR; and EPA.
CONTACT
Southwest Missouri Resource Conservation and Development, Inc.
329 W. Highway 60
Republic, MO 65738
Rita Mueller
telephone: 417-732-6485
email: rita.mueller@mo.usda.gov
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