As I've said before, the Upper White River Basin is blessed to have so many water quality groups, in Arkansas and Missouri, working hard to keep our waters clean and pure. One such group is the Watershed Committee of the Ozarks headed up by my friend and long time executive director, Loring Bullard. I thought I would showcase some of their work including the Watershed Center now under construction on the northeast side of Springfield. If your watershed group would like to be featured in the Ozarks Waters newsletter, send us your information and pictures.

History of the Watershed Committee of the Ozarks: 26 years ago, the Chair of the Board of Public Utilities appointed an ad hoc task force to develop a program for the protection of surface and subsurface watersheds which supply Springfield and the surrounding area with drinking water. Development was encroaching into the drinking watersheds and officials worried about whether public policies and programs would effectively protect our precious drinking water supplies. In November 1983, the Task Force issued a recommendation centered on the need for a permanent body whose primary purpose would be oversight and protection of public drinking water sources. From this recommendation, the Watershed Management Coordinating Committee was established. In 1989, the organization became a non-profit corporation and changed its name to Watershed Committee of the Ozarks.

The Watershed Center: Valley Water Mill Park is a publicly owned site on the north edge of Springfield. The 100-acre parcel is of great geologic and historic interest. It contains a prominent fault zone where streams sink into underground channels. It also contains a wide variety of natural and man-made features, including a seventeen-acre lake, wetlands, spring-fed stream, caves, sinkholes, glades and forests. You can take advantage of these natural features with a 2 1/2 mile walking trail. The trail loops around the entire site, connecting the five major outdoor classrooms or "learning stations," at the spring, wetland, lake, forest and stream. These offer excellent opportunities to get kids and adults outside for some exciting, hands-on learning about our precious water resources.

Construction of the main Watershed Center Education Building is now underway. The walls have been raised and the roof and windows installed. You can tour this LEED Gold facility as it is going up by contacting the Watershed Committee office at 417-866-1127.

Springfield Urban Farming Project:  In October, the Watershed Committee of the Ozarks was awarded a USDA grant through the Natural Resource Conservation Service to stimulate the development and adoption of innovative conservation approaches and technologies in the urban agriculture setting. The WCO will be working with two local urban producers, Urban Roots Farm and Milsap Farm, to demonstrate practices that are beneficial to the producer, environment, and the consuming public. Education opportunities for the public will come in the form of workshops and field days. The project will be completed by December 2012.

Springfield/Greene County Urban Watershed Stewardship Project: The Watershed Committee of the Ozarks is currently in the process of being awarded the Springfield/Greene County Urban Watershed Stewardship Project through the Department of Natural Resources 319 funding.  Project partners include City of Springfield Storm Water Services Division, Greene County Resource Management Department, James River Basin Partnership, Missouri State University, Ozark Greenways and Missouri Project WET. This grant will improve the quality of runoff while reducing the quantity of runoff leaving the Springfield urban area through the implementation of measures to reduce nutrients, bacteria, sediment and runoff volumes in support of the TMDLs and watershed management plans established for the James River and the Little Sac River.

Of course, the above is just a sampling of the projects the Watershed Committee is involved in. And if you are awake early enough on the first Friday of each month, stop by the Springfield Midtown Carnegie Library at 7:30 a.m. for the Watershed Committee's monthly meeting. You will hear the latest environmental news and updates plus you can network with other water warriors. A big thank you to the WCO and all the watershed groups.

Quote of the Week

Estuaries are a happy land, rich in the continent itself, stirred by the forces of nature like the soup of a French chef; the home of myriad forms of life from bacteria and protozoans to grasses and mammals; the nursery, resting place, and refuge of countless things.

-Stanely A. Cain, speech, 1966

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