03/04/2023
Photos from Yard by Yard: Community Resiliency Project's post
Ottawa County Conservation District
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Contact information, map and directions, contact form, opening hours, services, ratings, photos, videos and announcements from Ottawa County Conservation District, Public Service, 630 E. Steve Owens Boulevard, Miami, OK.
Operating as usual
03/03/2023
Directors and staff at OACD State Meeting!
03/03/2023
Upcoming outreach event. For more information contact the Ottawa County Conservation District (918) 542-4576 Ext. 3
03/01/2023
Photos from Yard by Yard: Community Resiliency Project's post
02/22/2023
02/13/2023
Congratulations to OACD board member, 2022 CARE Champion, and Ottawa County Conservation District director Grant Victor!
Grant graduated from the Next Generation Leadership Institute this morning, February 13th, in New Orleans, LA at the 77th annual NACD meeting.
02/08/2023
02/07/2023
02/07/2023
Photos from Ottawa County Conservation District's post
12/08/2022
What a fun time of year for the Ottawa County Conservation District to recognize students from local schools that were winners of the Annual Ottawa County Conservation Poster Contest and OACD Area 3 Contest.
12/08/2022
OACD board member + CARE champion , Grant Victor with farm service agency administrator, Zach Ducheneaux meeting to discuss increasing equity in agriculture
@ The Intertribal Agriculture Council.
We very much appreciate Ducheneaux’s passion and commitment for truly helping farmers succeed.
12/07/2022
12/06/2022
Oklahoma EQIP applications are due by Friday, Dec 9, 2022 close of business to be considered for funding in FY2023. Contact your local NRCS office for assistance.
11/27/2022
Emergency Drought Cost-Share application deadline is Monday, November 28th. Call 918-542-4576 extension 3.
11/21/2022
11/21/2022
11/14/2022
The Ottawa County Conservation District is accepting applications for the Emergency Drought Program. Cost-Share practices include: pasture taps, watering facilities, pipeline for livestock, pond clean out, cover crop (for erosion control only), Pasture and Hay planting (excludes Bermuda grass), water well, and pumping plant. Call (918) 542-4576 Ext. 3 for more information! Application deadline is November 28, 2022.
11/11/2022
The Ottawa County Conservation District is closed today in honor Veterans Day!
11/11/2022
& help !
11/11/2022
Parkrose Permaculture https://youtu.be/_t8mYYVwCos
11/08/2022
Photos from Yard by Yard: Community Resiliency Project's post
11/08/2022
Sign up period opens for Poultry Farms Regional Conservation Partnership Program – Neighbors Helping Neighbors
NOVEMBER 7, 2022
Oklahoma City, Okla., November 7, 2022 – The Oklahoma Conservation Commission and the Natural Resources Conservation Service announce sign-up dates for the Neighborhood Solutions to Natural Resources Concerns Project– Neighbors Helping Neighbors. The sign-up period will close December 15, 2022 and allows either poultry growers or their immediate neighbors to sign up for one of several conservation practices to be installed on their farm.
The Neighbors Helping Neighbors project is funded in part from USDA NRCS with additional funding from the U.S. EPA Section 319 program and an appropriation from the Oklahoma legislature. Other partners include the Grand River Dam Authority, OSU Extension Services, Oklahoma Association of Conservation Districts and the Poultry Federation.
“The purpose of the project is to bring poultry growers and their neighbors together with technical experts to discuss ways to address natural resource concerns,” said Shanon Phillips, the Oklahoma Conservation Commission Water Quality Division Director. “The unique thing about this project is that we can implement practices on either the grower’s land or the neighbor’s. Some of the practices we are already working to get installed are tree barriers to help address odor and dust.”
The project will focus on the poultry growing areas of eastern Oklahoma and will primarily work directly between poultry growers and their immediate neighbors. On a larger scale, it will protect natural resources in eastern Oklahoma while also supporting the important regional poultry industry. Landowners that either own a poultry farm or land adjacent to one in the following counties could be eligible: Adair, Cherokee, Craig, Delaware, Haskell, Le Flore, Mayes, McIntosh, Muskogee, Ottawa or Sequoyah.
Some of the natural resource concerns that can be addressed through the program are odor and dust, water quality and light pollution.
The OCC encourages interested parties to contact Jeri Fleming at [email protected] or (405) 334-6343 for more information about the program. To sign up for the program visit your local NRCS county office.
11/04/2022
Little changes can make a big difference
11/04/2022
We've been enjoying lots of chocolate treats today, but did you know that the production of chocolate depends on the pollination services of highly specialized flies known as chocolate midges? Chocolate midges use their tiny bodies (1-3mm) to work their way into the intricate flowers found on cacao trees, transferring pollen and allowing these trees to produce large seeds from which chocolate is produced as seen in the illustration below.
•
Illustration: chocolate midge pollinating cacao flowers, and large cacao seeds from which chocolate is produced. Artwork by Lindsay Wright
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11/04/2022
11/03/2022
Does your yard make the cut? Contact the Ottawa County Conservation District for more information! (918) 542-4576 Extension 3.
11/01/2022
11/01/2022
10/31/2022
10/31/2022
10/31/2022
10/31/2022
10/31/2022
NRCS Application Deadlines:
EQIP Classic - December 9, 2022
EQIP CIC - December 16, 2022
CSP Classic - March 3, 2022
10/31/2022
Timeline photos
Happy Halloween! Here are some tips to be more responsible with your celebrations.
10/31/2022
10/26/2022
Mobile uploads
10/13/2022
The Ottawa County Conservation District is accepting applications for the Emergency Drought Program. Cost-Share practices include: pasture taps, watering facilities, pipeline for livestock, and pond clean out! Call (918) 542-4576 Ext. 3 for more information! Application deadline is October 19th!
10/06/2022
Farmers + Ranchers ‼️
The emergency drought cost-share funds are being made available to all 77 Oklahoma counties via distribution by local Conservation Districts.
Projects included in the program are water well drilling, pumping facilities, pipeline, pasture tap, watering facilities, heavy use Area protection, cover crop planting, forage and biomass planting (excluding Bermuda grass) and pond clean out.
The latest U.S. Drought Monitor Report showed just under 100 percent of the state (99.88) in Moderate to Exceptional Drought, including 94 percent in Severe to Exceptional drought.
Size of program: Allocate $33,000 to each County (not District) – hold back reserve to be allocated to Districts with greatest demand.
Cost share rate: Maximum 80%
Maximum payment: Not to exceed $7,500
Projected Timeline of Program: Guidelines were approved in the Oct. 3, 2022 Conservation Commission meeting initiating the start of the program.
Producers can contact their local Conservation District for more information on the program.
To find your local Conservation District, please go to..
https://conservation.ok.gov/conservation-district-directory/
Photo: Will Bauer
10/06/2022
A monarch butterfly is shown here in a soil health garden in Ames, Oklahoma on Oct. 1. The no-till garden has just been broadcast seeded to a winter small grain cover crop mix. Gardeners can follow soil health principles too, by eliminating tillage and chemical amendments, growing something year-round, choosing a diverse range of plants, never leaving uncovered bare soil, and incorporating poultry, small livestock or manure compost.
Address
630 E. Steve Owens Boulevard
Miami, OK
74354
Opening Hours
| Monday | 8am - 4:30pm |
| Tuesday | 8am - 4:30pm |
| Wednesday | 8am - 4:30pm |
| Thursday | 8am - 4:30pm |
| Friday | 8am - 4:30pm |
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Did you know that visiting the farmers market is a great way to find out what’s happening in our community? Each week, we invite non-profits to attend the market to promote upcoming events, raise funds, and inform the community about the wonderful services they have to offer.
This week we welcome:
-Community Health Center of Southeast Kansas: they offer quality, affordable & accessible healthcare regardless of income or insurance status.
-Boy Scout Troop 687: selling fundraising snacks
-Miami Arts and Humanities Council Miami, OK: get info about their upcoming kid’s art camp
-Ottawa County Conservation District: will have info about their “Yard-by-Yard” program & the benefit of helping pollinators
Be sure to visit their tables on Thursdays, from 3-6:30pm, at the Miami Fairgrounds to find out about all these wonderful area programs & how they can help you!
This week we welcome:
-Community Health Center of Southeast Kansas: they offer quality, affordable & accessible healthcare regardless of income or insurance status.
-Boy Scout Troop 687: selling fundraising snacks
-Miami Arts and Humanities Council Miami, OK: get info about their upcoming kid’s art camp
-Ottawa County Conservation District: will have info about their “Yard-by-Yard” program & the benefit of helping pollinators
Be sure to visit their tables on Thursdays, from 3-6:30pm, at the Miami Fairgrounds to find out about all these wonderful area programs & how they can help you!
Don’t miss all the food & fun from 3-6:30pm inside the Expo Building at the Miami Fairgrounds TODAY! All Saints' Episcopal Church L.E.A.D. Agency, Inc. Miami Arts & Humanities Council Miami OK Parks Recreation and Tourism 6 M Farms & Bakery The Boondocks The Breezy Porch Retail & Retreat City of Miami, Oklahoma Oklahoma Native Pecan Co. Double Up Oklahoma The Frozen Elephant Rochaven Fiber Studios Miami Fairgrounds Northeastern Tribal Health System Horton's Produce & Pumpkin Patch Miami Public Library Miami, Oklahoma ONIE Project Ottawa County Conservation District Kranky's Kettle Corn
The storms will move out & it’ll be a gorgeous day for a farmers market-today, May 19, from 3-6:60pm, inside the Expo Building at the Miami Fairgrounds! Shop local produce & products, enjoy live music & grab dinner from the food truck every Thursday until October. Miami OK Parks Recreation and Tourism 6 M Farms & Bakery The Boondocks The Breezy Porch Retail & Retreat City of Miami, Oklahoma Incredible Edibles Catering DiamondHead Wine Rochaven Fiber Studios Miami Fairgrounds Horton's Produce & Pumpkin Patch Northeastern Tribal Health System Kranky's Kettle Corn Miami, Oklahoma Ottawa County 4-H (Oklahoma) Ottawa County Conservation District SuSu's Sweets
Check out this week’s Market News & don’t miss the fun at the next farmers market! Thursday, May 19 from 3-6:30pm inside the Expo Building at the Miami Fairgrounds. Miami OK Parks Recreation and Tourism 6 M Farms & Bakery The Boondocks The Breezy Porch Retail & Retreat Ottawa County 4-H (Oklahoma) Ottawa County Conservation District Rochaven Fiber Studios Horton's Produce & Pumpkin Patch Northeastern Tribal Health System Kranky's Kettle Corn Oak Creek Baskets SuSu's Sweets DiamondHead Wine Josh Anderson
Grant Victor from Ottawa County Conservation District and Phil Campbell from Oklahoma County Conservation District and both OACD CARE Champions attend the Commodity Classic in New Orleans on behalf of the National Association of Conservation Districts (NACD).
Pictured L to R in main photo:
Grant Victor, Chief of NRCS Terry Cosby, NACD President Michael Crowder, Phil Campbell
Pictured L to R in main photo:
Grant Victor, Chief of NRCS Terry Cosby, NACD President Michael Crowder, Phil Campbell
CARE Champion Grant Victor from the Ottawa County Conservation District featured in District Blue Thumb Calendar. Full release from OCC below:
District Blue Thumb Calendar 2021 October Featured Producer, “Grant Victor: Producer talks about ‘My time’ to carry conservation forward”
AFTON, Okla. – Time comes in so many different forms. It can be noon, or midnight, or it can be a decade or a half-century.
Grant Victor, who was born and raised at Afton in Ottawa County, speaks with sincerity about another form of time when referring to conservation.
“My grandfather (James Y. Victor) and my father (Samuel Grant Victor) were excellent in not only applying conservation practices, but also in teaching and explaining their benefits,” Victor said. “As it became ‘My time’ it was a great honor to carry on the heritage."
“My time” comes with the responsibility of practicing what you’ve learned and also learning what you will need to practice as times change. The two generations he spoke of, taught Victor, “That we are stewards of the land and responsible to future generations to preserve and perhaps enhance the natural resources. They also taught me that Mother Nature has a great ability to heal itself if allowed to.”
Victor and his wife Donna live on the original Cherokee Indian Allotment of his great grandfather, Grant Victor.
It was announced earlier this year by the Sand County Foundation that the Victor Ranch of Afton is the recipient of the Oklahoma Leopold Conservation Award. In Oklahoma the award is presented annually by Sand County Foundation, American Farmland Trust, Oklahoma Cattlemen’s Association, Noble Research Institute, Oklahoma Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture, ITC Great Plains, Oklahoma Conservation Commission, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service. The national sponsor for Sand County Foundation’s Leopold Conservation Award is American Farmland Trust.
“I'm a fourth generation farmer/rancher,” Victor said. “The homestead where I live was built in 1891. Horse Creek is a big part of the acreage and is one of the ‘head waters’ of Grand Lake O' The Cherokees. The farm superseded Grand Lake by many years.”
In the early 1980s Victor and his father noticed the great destruction of land with its erosion from cattle at water facilities, primarily ponds and creeks.
“By supplying water tanks and fencing off areas from cattle, we saw a quick and impressive recovery of land and water resources,” he said. “It was then that I realized that I could make a difference.”
However, you can roll time back a little more if you really want to talk about conservation on their place.
“Some of the earliest steps in conservation programs were with my dad and my grandfather,” he said. “Back in what I want to think was the 1950s, they put a massive amount of the crop acreage in the ‘Soil Bank’ program. It was later, a large sum of cropland was converted back to grassland, while other land was placed in the CRP program. I was not heavily involved, but learned from these early steps.”
Today, conservation on his land in the northeastern corner of Oklahoma includes no till, minimum till, cropland conversion to grasses, pond water management, brush and thistle management, riparian areas along creeks (250 acres) for water quality and wildlife management, the planting of pecan orchards and cover crops.
“There are not many of the acres on the family farm that are not now better than before,” Victor said. “It is a continuous job. Water quality has drastically improved.”
That very subject is a perfect transition into some of his key present day interests and actions. Victor is currently serving on the Ottawa County Soil Conservation Board and the Ottawa County Farm Service Agency Board, but he is also currently serving with 20 other producers across the nation in an advisory position on water quality research funding. Victor has also been asked by the Grand River Dam Authority to be a spokesman showing and encouraging others to be involved in water quality programs.
Plus, he has been involved in water quality education close to home.
“This past year I was part of a workshop about numerous programs including ‘The Blue Thumb’ program,” he said. “What opened my eyes was that I was now with a majority of people that were not farmers or ranchers. They explained the programs that involved children in most settings of large cities. Later that afternoon, we went to my ranch and did projects in the creek. I was so impressed at what they could show and teach me about my own operation.”
This was an eye-opener.
“I have since realized the importance of urban and city people learning about agriculture, and about farmers and ranchers learning more about city people and their concerns,” he said. “I found out that we have so much in common.”
Victor knows that such as understanding of rural and urban conservation is, well … timeless!
Editor’s Note: The Oklahoma Blue Thumb Calendar highlights important information about conservation, has a featured producer(s) in the months of February through October, and provides contact information for both Blue Thumb staff and Conservation Districts. Plus, this year’s project includes an in-depth producer(s) feature story, such as the one you just read. If you would like a copy of the free 2021 Blue Thumb Calendar, please contact Blue Thumb Program Director Rebecca Bond at [email protected].
District Blue Thumb Calendar 2021 October Featured Producer, “Grant Victor: Producer talks about ‘My time’ to carry conservation forward”
AFTON, Okla. – Time comes in so many different forms. It can be noon, or midnight, or it can be a decade or a half-century.
Grant Victor, who was born and raised at Afton in Ottawa County, speaks with sincerity about another form of time when referring to conservation.
“My grandfather (James Y. Victor) and my father (Samuel Grant Victor) were excellent in not only applying conservation practices, but also in teaching and explaining their benefits,” Victor said. “As it became ‘My time’ it was a great honor to carry on the heritage."
“My time” comes with the responsibility of practicing what you’ve learned and also learning what you will need to practice as times change. The two generations he spoke of, taught Victor, “That we are stewards of the land and responsible to future generations to preserve and perhaps enhance the natural resources. They also taught me that Mother Nature has a great ability to heal itself if allowed to.”
Victor and his wife Donna live on the original Cherokee Indian Allotment of his great grandfather, Grant Victor.
It was announced earlier this year by the Sand County Foundation that the Victor Ranch of Afton is the recipient of the Oklahoma Leopold Conservation Award. In Oklahoma the award is presented annually by Sand County Foundation, American Farmland Trust, Oklahoma Cattlemen’s Association, Noble Research Institute, Oklahoma Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture, ITC Great Plains, Oklahoma Conservation Commission, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service. The national sponsor for Sand County Foundation’s Leopold Conservation Award is American Farmland Trust.
“I'm a fourth generation farmer/rancher,” Victor said. “The homestead where I live was built in 1891. Horse Creek is a big part of the acreage and is one of the ‘head waters’ of Grand Lake O' The Cherokees. The farm superseded Grand Lake by many years.”
In the early 1980s Victor and his father noticed the great destruction of land with its erosion from cattle at water facilities, primarily ponds and creeks.
“By supplying water tanks and fencing off areas from cattle, we saw a quick and impressive recovery of land and water resources,” he said. “It was then that I realized that I could make a difference.”
However, you can roll time back a little more if you really want to talk about conservation on their place.
“Some of the earliest steps in conservation programs were with my dad and my grandfather,” he said. “Back in what I want to think was the 1950s, they put a massive amount of the crop acreage in the ‘Soil Bank’ program. It was later, a large sum of cropland was converted back to grassland, while other land was placed in the CRP program. I was not heavily involved, but learned from these early steps.”
Today, conservation on his land in the northeastern corner of Oklahoma includes no till, minimum till, cropland conversion to grasses, pond water management, brush and thistle management, riparian areas along creeks (250 acres) for water quality and wildlife management, the planting of pecan orchards and cover crops.
“There are not many of the acres on the family farm that are not now better than before,” Victor said. “It is a continuous job. Water quality has drastically improved.”
That very subject is a perfect transition into some of his key present day interests and actions. Victor is currently serving on the Ottawa County Soil Conservation Board and the Ottawa County Farm Service Agency Board, but he is also currently serving with 20 other producers across the nation in an advisory position on water quality research funding. Victor has also been asked by the Grand River Dam Authority to be a spokesman showing and encouraging others to be involved in water quality programs.
Plus, he has been involved in water quality education close to home.
“This past year I was part of a workshop about numerous programs including ‘The Blue Thumb’ program,” he said. “What opened my eyes was that I was now with a majority of people that were not farmers or ranchers. They explained the programs that involved children in most settings of large cities. Later that afternoon, we went to my ranch and did projects in the creek. I was so impressed at what they could show and teach me about my own operation.”
This was an eye-opener.
“I have since realized the importance of urban and city people learning about agriculture, and about farmers and ranchers learning more about city people and their concerns,” he said. “I found out that we have so much in common.”
Victor knows that such as understanding of rural and urban conservation is, well … timeless!
Editor’s Note: The Oklahoma Blue Thumb Calendar highlights important information about conservation, has a featured producer(s) in the months of February through October, and provides contact information for both Blue Thumb staff and Conservation Districts. Plus, this year’s project includes an in-depth producer(s) feature story, such as the one you just read. If you would like a copy of the free 2021 Blue Thumb Calendar, please contact Blue Thumb Program Director Rebecca Bond at [email protected].
Great opportunity happening through the Craig County Conservation District & Ottawa County Conservation District on September 9th!
What is moved in pollination?
Thank you for to all our participants at the Fishing Clinic last week! We had over 60 kids register! Also, a big thank you to our partners, Ottawa County Conservation District and the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation (ODWC).
Enjoy Fishing? Want to learn more about fishing?🐟🐟🐟🐟🐟🐟🐟🐟🐟🐟🐟
As we continue to celebrate Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, Shirley Hudson from the Ottawa County Conservation District, shared this great piece highlighting America Xiong, Soil Converaationits at the Jay Field Office.
What different forms can a forest take?
Looking for some native wildflowers to plant? This healthy stand of Brown-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia triloba) in front of Hemlock Crossing County Park Nature Center will be thinned to provide space for other native plants. Stop by the nature center on Saturday, 9/19 from 12-1 pm to take a plant home with you. There is not a cost but we will accept donations to support the maintenance of the gardens. Our supply is limited, but if you miss this opportunity, you can place an order of native plants through the Ottawa County Conservation District plant sale: ottawacd.org/NativePlantSale.html
expands conservation project to Grand Lake
· Randy Krehbiel
· Sep 9, 2020 Updated 8 hrs ago
The Grand River Dam Authority has paid landowners more than $2 million in recent months to move livestock away from the Illinois River and now Grand Lake, GRDA officials said Wednesday.
The state-owned utility expects to be reimbursed the expense through grants, said GRDA Vice President for Scenic Rivers and Water Quality Ed Fite, but in the meantime it’s been able to initiate a new phase in its efforts to reverse the effects of pollution in the Grand and Illinois watersheds.
This phase involves obtaining conservation easements along sensitive waterways under GRDA management. Conservation easements are voluntary agreements, in this case between the GRDA and landowners, to restrict usage of land within the easements.
Fite said this includes taking agricultural land out of production, keeping livestock out and forgoing all construction.
The initiative has been underway for awhile on the Illinois River, and on Wednesday GRDA regents approved the first easement on Grand Lake.
The 237-acre easement by Grant and Donna Victor of Afton is mostly on Horse Creek but also includes some land along the smaller Fly Creek, both near the north end of Grand Lake.
GRDA officials said outbreaks of blue green algae over the past decade have been traced to Horse Creek.
“Horse Creek is just under roughly 50 square miles of drainage,” Fite said. “When you drill down ... it is a perfect sandbox for all of us that like water quality to jump in.
“You have row crops. You have poultry operations. We have land application of waste from poultry operations. We have commercial fertilization. We also have a publicly owned wastewater treatment plant. The mix is just perfect for us to get in and start trying to hone in what these issues are,” Fite said.
Fite and Darrell Townsend, vice president for ecosystems and watershed management, said scientists from the University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma State University and Northeastern A&M College will be involved in developing information about where and how pollutants enter Horse Creek.
Fite noted that the blue green algae so despised by lake regulars is “a huge indication something is out of whack.”
He pointed out the four serious outbreaks in the past decade have followed heavy rainfalls, and said he doesn’t think it’s a coincidence.
“That’s telling me (rain runoff) is putting a slug of nutrients in the water,” he said.
The monitoring on Horse Creek, Fite continued, should give scientists an indication whether those nutrients are primarily coming from one or two “point” sources or from many sources.
Also on Thursday, the GRDA approved four other conservation easements totaling more than 180 acres along the Illinois River in Adair county.
Fite said the GRDA now has conservation easements on almost 2,000 acres adjoining the Illinois, and would like to add several thousand more.
The goal is to return the Illinois as much as possible to its natural surroundings. That means letting it rise above its banks when it floods and allowing vegetation to reestablish itself along the river’s course.
That will not only help filter impurities from runoff but limit erosion, which has become an increasing problem.
Fite, who for many years oversaw Illinois River preservation as head of the now-defunct Scenic Rivers Commission, sees current conservation as extensions of work that began almost 40 years ago.
“In 1983, there were 200,000 people in the Illinois watershed,” he said. “Now there are 700,000. In 2050-60 there will be 1.2-1.4 million. And yet the water quality has actually improved.
“My hope is we’ll be able to say we did the same for the Grand.”
Ottawa County Conservation District
NRCS
Oklahoma Conservation Commission
EPA Water
· Randy Krehbiel
· Sep 9, 2020 Updated 8 hrs ago
The Grand River Dam Authority has paid landowners more than $2 million in recent months to move livestock away from the Illinois River and now Grand Lake, GRDA officials said Wednesday.
The state-owned utility expects to be reimbursed the expense through grants, said GRDA Vice President for Scenic Rivers and Water Quality Ed Fite, but in the meantime it’s been able to initiate a new phase in its efforts to reverse the effects of pollution in the Grand and Illinois watersheds.
This phase involves obtaining conservation easements along sensitive waterways under GRDA management. Conservation easements are voluntary agreements, in this case between the GRDA and landowners, to restrict usage of land within the easements.
Fite said this includes taking agricultural land out of production, keeping livestock out and forgoing all construction.
The initiative has been underway for awhile on the Illinois River, and on Wednesday GRDA regents approved the first easement on Grand Lake.
The 237-acre easement by Grant and Donna Victor of Afton is mostly on Horse Creek but also includes some land along the smaller Fly Creek, both near the north end of Grand Lake.
GRDA officials said outbreaks of blue green algae over the past decade have been traced to Horse Creek.
“Horse Creek is just under roughly 50 square miles of drainage,” Fite said. “When you drill down ... it is a perfect sandbox for all of us that like water quality to jump in.
“You have row crops. You have poultry operations. We have land application of waste from poultry operations. We have commercial fertilization. We also have a publicly owned wastewater treatment plant. The mix is just perfect for us to get in and start trying to hone in what these issues are,” Fite said.
Fite and Darrell Townsend, vice president for ecosystems and watershed management, said scientists from the University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma State University and Northeastern A&M College will be involved in developing information about where and how pollutants enter Horse Creek.
Fite noted that the blue green algae so despised by lake regulars is “a huge indication something is out of whack.”
He pointed out the four serious outbreaks in the past decade have followed heavy rainfalls, and said he doesn’t think it’s a coincidence.
“That’s telling me (rain runoff) is putting a slug of nutrients in the water,” he said.
The monitoring on Horse Creek, Fite continued, should give scientists an indication whether those nutrients are primarily coming from one or two “point” sources or from many sources.
Also on Thursday, the GRDA approved four other conservation easements totaling more than 180 acres along the Illinois River in Adair county.
Fite said the GRDA now has conservation easements on almost 2,000 acres adjoining the Illinois, and would like to add several thousand more.
The goal is to return the Illinois as much as possible to its natural surroundings. That means letting it rise above its banks when it floods and allowing vegetation to reestablish itself along the river’s course.
That will not only help filter impurities from runoff but limit erosion, which has become an increasing problem.
Fite, who for many years oversaw Illinois River preservation as head of the now-defunct Scenic Rivers Commission, sees current conservation as extensions of work that began almost 40 years ago.
“In 1983, there were 200,000 people in the Illinois watershed,” he said. “Now there are 700,000. In 2050-60 there will be 1.2-1.4 million. And yet the water quality has actually improved.
“My hope is we’ll be able to say we did the same for the Grand.”
Ottawa County Conservation District
NRCS
Oklahoma Conservation Commission
EPA Water