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Brasstown Creek 319(h)

The Brasstown Creek Watershed Restoration through Agriculture Best Management Practice (BMP) Demonstration 319 grant proposal was written and submitted to Georgia EPD March of 2000.  The grant was approved and we were released to begin work March 12, 2002. 

 

Brasstown Creek and its tributaries Corn Creek and Yewell Branch are on the Total Maximum Daily Load list of waters for the State of Georgia.  The primary pollutants of these stream segments are fecal coliform and sediment.  The primary focus of this project is to plan and develop ag BMP demonstration sites, throughout the Brasstown Creek Watershed of Towns and Union counties of Georgia, which will address agricultural sources of fecal coliform and sediment.  These demonstration sites will be used for educational activities such as field days and tours to give other landowners and professionals an opportunity to see the BMP’s at work.

 

Grant Specifications:

Federal Funds:                                   $247,849.00

Non-Federal Matching Funds:           $195,589.00

Total Funds:                                      $453,438.00

 

Demonstration Sites:

A total of twelve demonstration sites have been installed and include some of the following Best Management Practices:

 

Practices Included in sites:

  • Alternative watering facilities
  • Heavy Use Area Protection
  • Solar Power for pumping H2O                         
  • Cross Fencing
  • Livestock Exclusion from perennial H20 bodies
  • Winter Feeder
  • Grassed Waterway
  • Obstruction Removal                                       
  • Silvo-pasture
  • Heavy Use Stream Crossings/Water Ramps/Stock Trails
  • Streambank Stabilization/Trout Habitat Structures
  • Nutrient Management
  • Pest Management
  • Prescribed Grazing
  • Forage Harvest Management

 

The grant closes out June 30, 2007, but the demonstration sites will be available for viewing during the next few years.  Please call the Blairsville NRCS office at 706 745 2794 X 3 if you are interested in seeing some Ag BMP’s at work.

 

Heavy Use Areas:  Provide a stable area in heavily used sites, which typically stay damp due to storm water runoff and heavy livestock use.  This improves water quality through less soil/animal waste pollutants in storm water due to the prevention of soil particle displacement, and the ability to scrape the waste material from the surface and store or apply it in an upland area.

The above photograph shows the heavy use area after installation of BMPs.

 

 This is an example of a drinking source prior to installation of BMPs. 

 

Alternative Drinking Sources: Where livestock were originally using the stream for drinking water, fences were erected to exclude the cattle from all streams and ball drinkers were installed to provide drinking sources.

 

 

Solar Pump on Low Production Well:  A solar pump was installed on a 2-3 gallon per minute well to provide drinking water throughout the landowners grazing system.  The overflow is routed to an old, existing, spring fed pond to provide fresh water as needed.  The pipe in the pond is elevated to improve the oxygen content of the water.

 

 

 

Grassed Waterway:  A livestock watering  area was located at the base of a draw which ran into a spring fed pond (as mentioned in the solar pump section).  When the landowners bought the property, the gully dumping into the pond was over 6’ deep.  Through years of hand work, they filled the gulley, but still had soil displacement, thus sedimentation of their pond…which greatly hampered the health of their pond.  With the help of NRCS engineering staff, and NRCS field office personnel, a grassed waterway was designed and installed using Enkamat® (flexible three-dimensional mat for immediate, permanent erosion protection on the most varied slope types) which provides erosion protection against higher runoff velocities than grass alone.