Protected Flow

Dan Crummett, Contributor

For Dick Tatum, the past 15 years have seen a tremendous number of changes in his farm and farming methods all in an effort to protect the sensitive watersheds in southeastern Kansas that supply drinking water for thousands of Kansans and in nearby Oklahoma.

A fourth-generation farmer from the small community of Burden, in Cowley County, southeast of Wichita, Tatum and most of the other farmers and ranchers in the Upper Timber Creek and Grouse-Silver Creek watersheds have been instrumental in making significant changes in their farms. Their new farming practices grew into a community-wide effort aimed at reducing the amount of sediment and phosphorus levels in the streams.

Timber Creek drains 55,000 acres into Winfield City Lake, which supplies 60% of Cowley County’s drinking water and ultimately flows into the Walnut River a few miles upstream of its confluence with the Arkansas River. Near the Oklahoma line, Grouse Creek, fed by the pristine Silver Creek, a popular fishing and canoeing stream, also enters the Arkansas at the headwaters of Kaw Reservoir, located in northern Oklahoma. In all, both watersheds drain nearly 400,000 acres of native prairie and fragile cropland.

“There had been concerted efforts at flood control and soil conservation on our farmlands in the area since the 1950s,” says former Cowley County district conservationist Barry Barber, now retired from USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service. “In the 1970s, there were more than 30 upstream flood-control structures built in pastures and farms above Upper Timber Creek, as producers were active in trying to prevent flooding and soil erosion.”

ABOUT TO CHANGE

While agricultural interests were busy working with conservation officials and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to prevent erosion and flooding, the general population of the area remained out of the loop as to the activities of nearby farms and ranches. All that changed, however, when the folks in Burden turned on their faucets one summer day, and the water was red.

Barber says the smelly red water changed community attitudes forever, and once the source of the putrid flow was traced to an extreme algae bloom in Winfield City Lake and further traced to high levels of phosphorus in the lake, “everyone” wanted to be involved. The phosphorus was linked to agricultural runoff and sediment loads in Upper Timber Creek, which feeds the lake, he explains.

“About that same time, in 2006, local watershed districts changed focus from flood control to water-quality control,” Barber says. The red-water scare spawned a community effort that included representatives from the City of Winfield, Cowley County Conservation District, Timber Creek Watershed District, Farm Bureau, NRCS, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) and Kansas State University’s Research and Extension organizations.

Denise Middleton, an NRCS/Conservation District water-quality coordinator at the time, says there was an unprecedented level of cooperation among the parties involved. “Barry’s leadership was evident in bringing about a united effort among people with much different agendas,” she explains.

Widespread interest in runoff spawned the formation of several cooperative agreements under the title of Watershed Restoration and Protection Strategy (WRAPS). The agreements outlined conservation activities and cost-share programs to accomplish specific goals.

BEST PRACTICES

The WRAPS programs called for studies of sediment and phosphorus loading levels in the streams and reduction goals. They specified best-management practices (BMPs) to meet the goals and called for educational outreach to familiarize both municipal and agricultural interests with the need to adopt the remedial measures.

BMPs for reducing sediment and phosphorus from croplands and livestock-producing areas included:

> the use of riparian and field buffer strips

> encouragement of no-till and reduced-tillage farming, along with the use of cover crops

> the conversion of marginal croplands to grass

> installation of grassed waterways

> stream bank stabilization on specific sites of concern

> pasture practices to eliminate concentrated overgrazing

> remediation of oil-field brine scars to eliminate exposed bare soil in pastures

> the use of wetland traps or management practices to slow runoff and reduce surface phosphorus losses

> preparation of Nutrient Management Plans in conjunction with producers.

Throughout this 10-year process, the programs have consistently exceeded their goals.

Middleton believes one of the factors that made the programs so successful was the number of partners in the agreements. “The cost-share money was helpful in getting producers to adapt different methods and practices,” she says. “There was actually money available to help with projects many growers could not afford.”

Near Burden, Tatum says his 1,900-acre corn, soybean, wheat and cattle operation, once conventionally farmed, is now nearly all no-till. Plus, he put 200 acres of marginal ground into the Conservation Reserve Program to meet his farm’s WRAPS goals.

BETTER YIELDS

“We converted several of our small fields in the bends of Upper Timber Creek to native grass because we couldn’t get our sprayer into them, and we’ve added grass buffer strips along the stream banks, which also took more of our land out of production,” he explains. “The changes have made little difference in our overall production, because the land we quit farming was marginal. It has actually made our overall farm yields better.”

An avid hunter, Tatum says the stream buffer strips and filter strips at the edge of bottomland fields provide excellent bedding areas for white-tailed deer and upland game. Tatum installed rock chutes to control field and road right-of-way erosion into the creek, rock structures for streambed stabilization and terrace repairs.

Not far away, near Atlanta, Kansas, Larry Womack has approvingly watched conservation efforts in the watersheds back through the 1960s. “The conservation work has been good,” he says. “The flood-control work in the 1960s and 70s stopped regularly flooded fields and downed fences after thunderstorms. And, now, modern no-till practices keep the ground covered with residue or cover crops.”

Womack installed the area’s last upstream flood-control structure on 46 acres of cropland and turned the area into a nearly picture-perfect rolling native grass pasture. Also, he built and repaired terraces, and installed grassed waterways and rock chutes to slow runoff from his farm.

“Because of all this and modern farming practices, we’re still producing crops,” he says, “but now, we’re sending clean water into the creeks.”

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