|
About Spring Creek
 Spring
Creek is the most pristine large Ozark stream left in the state of Oklahoma.
It begins in Delaware County near the town of Kansas, OK and flows southwest
approximately 34 miles through Cherokee, Delaware and Mayes Counties.
Spring Creek eventually discharges into the Ft. Gibson Reservoir. The
estimated average flow rate is 24,000,000 gallons per day. The Spring Creek
Watershed drains 124,000 acres.
About the Spring Creek Coalition
The Spring Creek Coalition (SCC) is a non-profit organization comprised of
private landowners and residents. SCC’s objective is to preserve Spring Creek
and its watershed, through community involvement. Activities and projects include, litter
clean-up, water quality monitoring, and fish. studies. Public meetings offer
information on improved management practices for home, land, and livestock. SCC
advocates the rights and responsibilities of landowners and residents to protect
their own natural resources.
Landowners in the watershed are proud of their land and their way of life.
Many of them grew up in the woods hunting and fishing. Other landowners that
have moved to the area did so because the land was still remote, wild and free
and the water was pure. We all love the resource, but we want to avoid taking it
for granted and assuming someone else will take care of these problems. It is
far easier to complain about a problem than it is to do something about it!
Learn more about SCC here.
About the Spring Creek Conservation Coalition
Spring Creek Conservation Coalition is dedicated to actively defending the
rights and responsibilities of landowners to protect our natural resources and
is a specific organization created to fight specific issues such as
introduction of foreign fish species to Spring Creek.
Learn more about SCCC here.
Recreation & Wildlife
Spring Creek supports thirty species of fish, including Smallmouth Bass. Seventy
percent of these fish are cool water species and have strict habitat
requirements: they cannot thrive in degraded water quality or habitat.
Spring Creek maintains a cool seventy-two degree water temperature. The
combination of cool temperatures and crystal clear water make Spring Creeks
thirteen swimming areas enjoyable for recreational activities.
Spring Creek Watershed has provided excellent hunting opportunities for
thousands of years, as indicated by the abundance of Indian artifacts in the
area. An average of 2300 Whitetail Deer and 70 Wild Turkey is reportedly taken
out of the watershed each year.
How Can We Help Preserve Spring Creek?
Current studies on Spring Creek indicate that a main problem is
deterioration of the creek banks.
Trees/brush and their roots are very beneficial. They hold the banks together,
provide food and cover for game and fish, and cool the water with shade. Trees
and brush filter sediment and pollutants from water running off the land during
storms. Grasses alone do not provide all of these benefits.
Removing trees and brush from around creeks results in bank erosion. When this
happens, creeks fill with fine sand and gravel. They become more shallow, wider,
and warmer. This accounts for the lack of deep pools and pool-dwelling game fish
that many long-term residents of Spring Creek recall. As the creek widens,
pastures. forest lands and roadbeds are lost to washouts.
Living next to the creek, it’s natural to want to embrace it. If we aren’t
careful, we will spoil what we came to the creek to enjoy. So, when thinking
about “cleaning up the creek banks’, please consider the fish, wildlife, and
your downstream neighbors. Leave a wide border of trees and brush at least fifty
feet from each bank. Build pathways to the water instead of wide clearings.
Concerns About the Spring Creek Watershed and Its Ecosystem
The Spring Creek Watershed is predominantly steep, rocky, and wooded. The
topsoil is thin, and the subsurface is porous. Rainfall runs off over and under
the land, carrying with it everything that is not “nailed down,” especially the
soil.
As our watershed loses its forest and good pasture cover, and the amount of
pavement increases, less of the rainfall soaks in, and more runs off - and runs
off faster. Spring Creek is getting wider to accommodate the increased storm
runoff. At the same time, a tremendous amount of sediment and gravel being
deposited into the creek, making the bed shallower. As the creek widens,
it causes more undercutting of the banks, thus causing more erosion and sediment
filling, in a vicious cycle. Sedimentation destroys the natural “riffle and
pool” pattern. As the rocky bottom of Spring Creek fills with fine sediment, the
aquatic insects and fish - from minnows to game fish - lose their habitats and
food sources.
Timber in the watershed is harvested and cleared for pasture and construction.
It takes 25 years for one native Red Oak to reach 10 inches in diameter. Many of
the best trees are being taken out with the idea that the smaller ones will
grow. This is like selling the top end of your cowherd and keeping the culls.
Reproduction is left to those of lesser quality.
Timber provides food and shelter for wildlife. Along with other vegetation, it
stabilizes the topsoil, slows runoff and retains moisture. Riparian forests keep
the streams cool and shaded.
|
