OZARKS WATER WATCH TM
UWRB: Upper White River Basin Foundation

lakes in missouri

Ozark Waters

  Volume IV, Issue 37
                                
                           September 13, 2010
In This Issue
Check Out Our Archive
Feature Article:
Gulf platform explodes no crew killed
Officials testing NY Harbor water tor toxic algae
Notice of public meeting Illinois Rover watershed
Public Meeting - Table Rock Lake Water Quality

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Bull Creek Rolls
John Moore
 
It's not rocket science.  Maintaining good water quality in our lakes and streams takes awareness, understanding and commitment.  And for promoting these things, nothing beats a field day workshop out on a creek.  This past Saturday the Bull Creek Association did just that with a field day hosted by Bob and Barb Kipfer at their farm on Bull Creek.
 
Organized for the Association by Mary Culler, fisheries biologist with the Missouri Department of Conservation, some 40 people attended the daylong event.  Presentations included a history of the property by Bob Kipfer going back to the 1830's when the mail trace road from Springfield to the White River near today's Forsyth was forged through the Kipfer farm along Bull Creek.  The thriving 19th century community of Bull Mills was located where the field day was held, but few vestiges of the earlier settlement remain.
 
 Bull Ck 29
 
This changing pattern has been reflected in the changing ecology of the region induced by the clearing of forests, cultivation of the land and introduction of new crops and livestock.  And the streams, as dynamic, living waters, have been ever changing as well.
 
These stream dynamics were illustrated in one of the workshop sessions employing a "stream table," a trailer mounted model of a stream simulating how water flows in a watershed.  Another session focused on the aquatic biodiversity of streams, particularly the macro invertebrates, the little insects which live there.
 
 A presentation on threats to stream health and "best management practices" to sustain healthy water emphasized prevention of erosion, livestock management and the importance of maintaining vegetative buffers along riparian corridors.  The buffer areas along Bull Creek planted by the Kipfers demonstrated the practical application of this important management practice.  Likewise the formerly eroding stream bank, stabilized by the Kipfers with rock fill, gave practical significance to another measure protecting stream health for participants.

The landowners attending the field day had ample opportunity to visit with conservation staff leading the workshops and with each other.  Mary Culler, the field day coordinator, had prepared notebooks for all participants with information about the Bull Creek watershed, the aquatic biota found there and the best management practices landowners could employ, a good take-away for further reference at home.

Indeed no rocket science was involved but the understanding and commitment to healthy water in Bull Creek fostered by the field day added significantly to the cause of water quality in an important Ozark watershed.  And the Bull Creek Association as well gained important momentum as a new watershed organization.
    
Bull Ck 30
 
Bull Ck 32 
  
Bull CK 46
 

 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
CURRENT NEWS ARTICLES
 

Gulf platform explodes No crew killed; rig 200 miles west of BP spill

The Associated Press

September 3, 2010

 

An oil platform exploded and burned off the Louisiana coast Thursday, the second such disaster in the Gulf of Mexico in less than five months. This time, the Coast Guard said, there was no leak and no one was killed. The Coast Guard initially reported that oil sheen a mile long and 100 feet widehad begun to spread from the site of the blast, about 200 miles west of the source of BP's spill. But hours later, Coast Guard Cmdr. Cheri Ben-Iesau said crews were unable to find any spill.

 
 

Story continues here
 

Officials testing NY Harbor water for toxic algae

Wall Street Journal

September 08, 2010

 

NEW YORK - Officials say they are continuing to test water samples from New York Harbor to determine if a bloom of algae is harmful and can be considered a red tide outbreak. The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection said Tuesday boats were gathering water samples and an airplane was surveilling an area near Staten Island. Red tide refers to an outbreak of naturally occurring microscopic organisms that can discolor water and produce a toxin that can kill fish. It can also burn eyes and cause skin irritation in people.

 
Story continues here 
 
 

Grant to help northeast Missouri farmers protect water

The Associated Press

September 8, 2010

 

STOUTSVILLE - A $3.3 million grant will help farmers in northeast Missouri control soil erosion and improve soil quality, while keeping agricultural runoff out of drinking water supplies. Gov. Jay Nixon announced the five-year grant Tuesday for farmers in the North Fork Salt Watershed, which drains into Mark Twain Lake. The grant will provide financial and technical assistance to farmers in Adair, Knox, Macon and Shelby counties.
 
Story continues here
 
 
NOTICE OF PUBLIC MEETING
 THE ILLINOIS RIVER WATERSHED TOTAL MAXIMUM DAILY LOAD (TMDL)
PROJECT UPDATE
 
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Region 6, will be hosting an informal meeting on September 14, 2010, at 6 pm to update the public on the Illinois River Watershed TMDL development project.  The meeting will be held in the Bynum Theater of John Brown University located at 2000 West University Street in Siloam Springs, Arkansas.  The meeting will include a presentation on the data and information provided by the public and a questions and answer session.  For additional information, contact Diane Smith at 214-665-2145 or Smith.Diane@epa.gov.
 
Illinois River Watershed Public Meeting
Bynum Theater
John Brown University
Siloam Springs, AR
 
 
September 14, 2010
6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.
 
 
Agenda
 
 
Introduction
 
Project Overview
 
Illinois River Water TMDL Project - Tentative Schedule
 
GIS Database and Data Gap Analysis Report Development
 

Meeting Adjourn

 
 

 

Public Meeting

Friday, September 17, 2010

Best Western Convention Center, Branson West, MO

(Just west of Silver Dollar City on Highway 76)

 

The Department of Natural Resources web site states: "Section 303(d) of the federal Clean Water Act requires that each state identify waters that are not meeting water quality standards and for which adequate water pollution controls have not been required. Water quality standards protect such beneficial uses of water as whole body contact (swimming), maintaining fish and other aquatic life, and providing drinking water for people, livestock and wildlife. The 303(d) List helps state and federal agencies keep track of waters that are impaired but not addressed by normal water pollution control

programs."

 

Table Rock Lake was first placed on the 303(d) list of impaired waters in 2002 for excessive nutrient levels. Lake Taneycomo is currently on the 303(d) list for low dissolved oxygen content. The proposed 2010 303(d) list now has Table Rock Lake listed for high nitrogen and chlorophyll and Lake Taneycomo listed for high nitrogen from urban sources. To help explain what these listings mean to Table Rock Lake and Lake Taneycomo, Table Rock Lake Water Quality and the City of Branson has asked officials from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources and

the University of Missouri to come to the Table Rock Lake/Branson Area to offer their explanations.

 

A public meeting will be held on Friday, September 17th starting at 11 a.m. and will include a light lunch. The presentations will start at noon and adjourn at 2:30 p.m. The meeting will be held at the Best Western Conference Center in Branson West (just west of Silver Dollar City on Highway 76). There is no charge for lunch but we request a RSVP to Table Rock Lake Water Quality to help us with our planning. RSVP by email at contact@trlwq.org or call 417-739-4100.

 

For additional information, contact David Casaletto, Executive Director, Table Rock Lake Water Quality at dcasaletto@trlwq.org or 417-739-4100.

 

 

Agenda

 

11:00 a.m. to 11:45 a.m. *Light lunch & Networking

 

12:00 p.m. Welcome - David Casaletto, Executive Director of Table Rock Lake Water Quality & Mona Menezes, Environmental Specialist, City of Branson

 

12:15 p.m. Impaired Waters; the Listing Process and TMDLs - John DeLashmit, P.E., Chief, Water Quality Management Branch Water, Wetlands, and Pesticides Division, USEPA Region 7

 

12:40 p.m. The 303(d) Process in Missouri and Implications for Nutrients in Lakes - John Madras, Water Protection Program Director (Acting) Missouri Department of Natural Resources

 

1:10 p.m. Good decisions are based on good science and good data - Daniel Obrecht, Senior Research Specialist Dept. of Fisheries and Wildlife Science, University of Missouri-Columbia & Tony Thorpe, Coordinator, Lakes of Missouri Volunteer Program

 

1:50 p.m. Benefits of a Watershed Management Plan for Table Rock & Lake Taneycomo - Gopala Borchelt, Projects Manager, Table Rock Lake Water Quality

 

2:00 p.m. Questions & Panel Discussion

 

2:30 p.m. Adjourn

 

* Please RSVP for lunch to Table Rock Lake Water Quality: email at contact@trlwq.org or phone at 417-739-4100. (Anyone may attend the sessions but there may not be lunch available if we do not receive your RSVP. Your lunch will be available as long as you arrive by 11:45 a.m.) Thank you!

 

 

 

 

  
 
Contact Info
Upper White River Basin Foundation
P: (417) 334-7644
F: (417) 334-7645
www.uwrb.org
www.myspace.com/uwrb