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Shoal Creek Poultry Litter Mgmt (Nutrient Mgmt Specialist)
The Poultry Litter/Nutrient Management Demonstration Project supports technical assistance for the Southwest Missouri Resource Conservation and Development, Inc. (RCandD) office to provide a nutrient management specialist in the Upper Shoal Creek watershed. The specialist is employed by the Southwest Missouri RCandD and is stationed in the Barry County Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) in Cassville, MO.
Further down in its watershed, Shoal Creek supplies drinking water for 10,000 people in Neosho and 45,000 in Joplin.
The 59,400-acre Upper Shoal Creek watershed is located in Barry and Newton Counties in southwest Missouri. Land use in the watershed is estimated to be 73 percent grassland, 20 percent forest land, 5 percent other (water, roads, farmsteads) and 2 percent cropland. Many poultry companies have facilities in this watershed. Annual poultry production in southwest Missouri is at about 190 million broilers and 20 million turkeys. This production generates approximately 465,000 tons of litter per year. Broiler production is increasing annually.
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
Excessive nutrients are potential problems to the tributaries, springs and groundwater resources of southwest Missouri and its downstream neighbors. Present nutrient sources in the Upper Shoal Creek watershed include municipal wastes, livestock and poultry wastes and fertilization. Water quality data for the nearby Elk River shows increasing levels of nitrogen and bacteria in streams over time, believed to be due primarily by land application of animal wastes. Monitoring of water quality in Shoal Creek suggests it is also affected by land application of anmial waste, but the amount of monitoring done to date is insufficient to document any time trends.
Protection of the drinking water supply by controlling (karst terrain) groundwater infiltration and surface runoff to reduce nutrient delivery and control soil erosion are the two major issues to be addressed in the management of poultry production lands draining into Upper Shoal Creek. Consideration is also given to the federally-threatened, state-endangered Ozark Cavefish, the state-endangered Little Purple Mussel and a variety of other animals and plants on the state-listed watch list in this watershed.
OBJECTIVES
1. Provide direct technical assistance to producers in the project area to plan and implement nutrient management plans for reducing and controlling nutrients (promoting appropriate poultry litter land application rates) in the project area
2. Monitor nutrients (N,P,K) in soils, streams, springs, ponds and wells at selected demonstration sites
3. Monitor land use in relationship to long-term management practices
4. Use results of the project to evaluate guidelines for poultry litter nutrient applications
5. Reduce and control nutrient concentrations leaving the fields in surface runoff or by leaching to the groundwater resource
The project will last from 1995 to 2000
SPONSOR
Southwest Missouri RCandD Council, Inc.
COOPERATING AGENCY
EPA/DNR
CONTACT
Southwest Missouri RCandD Council, Inc./Barry Co. SWCD
Plaza Southwest Center, Suite 301C
West Highway 60
Republic, MO 65738
Rita Mueller/Adam Reed 417-732-6485
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