I. General membership meetings hosting a variety of educational
topics:
A. OSU Cooperative Extension agents-benefits of soil
testing/fertilizing, grazing management recommendations and animal waste
management.
B. Natural Resources Conservation Commission-explaining services
which they provide like conservation plans and availability of cost
share programs for erosion control. The importance of creek
riparian. Special session on EQIP by Conservation Commission.
C. Oklahoma Water Resources Board - “Water Watch” Volunteer Water
Quality Monitoring Program.
D. Northeastern State University-demonstrating identification of
aquatic life in Spring Creek.
E. Local businesses such as Peggs Water Company and Cobb Van Tress
Chicken Research have been invited to tell the membership about their
operations and address land owners concerns.
F. Grand River Dam Authority who has jurisdiction over Spring Creek
and is responsible for issuing permits has spoken to the membership.
G. Annual Business Meetings.
II. Annual Field Day Event which hosts experts in Biology, Forestry,
Agriculture, Wildlife and Hydrology with booths, literature and hands-on
demonstrations in erosion, macro-invertebrates and fish specific to Spring
Creek. Representatives from 4H, Project Wet and Boy Scouts of America
include opportunity for youth and local teachers to get involved in
conservation projects within the watershed. Oklahoma Dept. of
Wildlife, Department of Environmental Quality, Oklahoma Forestry, Oklahoma
Water Resources Board, Oklahoma Conservation Commission, Northeastern State
University, City of Tulsa Water Quality and Oklahoma Cooperative Extension,
Game Wardens and Cherokee Nation attend and/or participate.
III. Volunteer litter clean-ups and planting trees. These clean-ups get a lot of attention from media and surrounding
communities. SCC volunteers maintain trash receptacles at a few of the local
swimming areas. The patrons are receptive to this service, It has alleviated
a tremendous amount of cans, bottles and diapers which were once tossed into
the creek or on the banks.
IV. Development and distribution of public information.
A. A pamphlet was developed in collaboration with the Cherokee
Nation. The objective of the pamphlet is to enlighten land owners on the
impacts in the watershed in terms of the number of families who depend
on Spring Creek for their drinking water and on the total domestic
livestock which the watershed supports. It also addresses
recreation and wildlife in terms of the number of deer and wild turkey
which are harvested in the watershed. The pamphlet explains that
deterioration of the creek banks is one of the biggest problems, the
effects of this deterioration and what land owners can do on their own
places to help.
B. A watershed map including tributaries, roads, other geographical
data, and Spring Creek Coalition test sites with information on “What is
a watershed?”, “What is an ecosystem?”, “Concerns about Spring Creek
Watershed and its Ecosystem” and about “Spring Creek Coalition”.
C. Installation of engraved red-wood signs on main roads identifying
Spring Creek Watershed boundaries and encouraging care for our water
resources.
V. Outreach to local schools.
A. Volunteers have visited some of the local schools to talk to the
children about a conservation effort available to them through Spring
Creek Coalition. Our message is
that conservation is not limited to the rain forest and the salmon. It
is happening in their community. Theft environment also has a fragile
ecosystem that is threatened and they can help make a difference.
B. A group of teenagers at one of our local schools has been trained
by the Oklahoma Water Resources Board and is currently monitoring 2 test
sites.
VI. Video, Tours and Booths
A. Spring Creek Coalition has hosted tours with the Oklahoma Dept. of
Wildlife, the Indian Nations Audubon Society and the Oklahoma Native
Plant Society. The objective of these tours is to teach landowners
appreciation of the diversity and beauty of their environment.
B. Oklahoma Conservation Commission produced a video on Spring Creek
Coalition activities, goals and reasons for concern.
C. Spring creek Coalition occasionally puts up booths at county fairs
or similar events.
A. Spring Creek Coalition is a total volunteer effort. Income
and expenses do not exceed $1,000 per year. The Board of Directors are
all volunteer land owners representing 4 regions of the watershed.
By-laws have been developed and approved by the membership. The
Coalition is incorporated as a non-profit organization.
B. All services such as engineering, scientific analysis, mail outs,
attorney and taxes, training, aquatic species collection archiving and
development of public information are volunteered. Tangible items like
the signs, trees, some of our testing equipment and food are donated.
C. SCC has an approach which is to provide information to land
owners so that they can exercise better judgment in management decisions.
This type of information includes:
Best management practices for land and livestock,
availability/responsibility of state and federal services, special features
of the watershed and factual information on the impacts and their effects.
D. Current projects include:
1) A physical, chemical and biological stream assessment. In addition to collecting data for long-term trend assessment, a
monitoring program offers comprehensive visual surveillance and a
scientific basis for environmental advocacy.
2) A local education program (grades 5-8) which includes curriculum,
materials and outdoor activities specific to Spring Creek Watershed.
The goal is to have all schools adopt a section of the creek/watershed and
link them via computer.
3) Land use map which will identify population, timber stands, erosion,
concentrated livestock operations, roads and bridges, tributaries, aerial
view of meandering pattern and riparian of the creek etc. With as much
focus on the healthy areas as the unhealthy areas.
Projects continued:
The resources needed to complete the above projects are abundant.
Technical guidance and services are generously offered by the most competent
people in the state of Oklahoma. Much of our membership are active
volunteers.
Two factors determine the pace of our progress:
1) Coordination of resources requires leadership. The number of
qualified volunteers willing to take leadership positions has doubled and
should continue to grow. The limited amount of time these leaders, as
volunteers can devote to a project determine the pace of its progress.
2) The preservation of Spring Creek has not been adopted as an official
project by any state or federal agency. This lack in priority limits
availability of state and federal resources also regulatory support.
Accomplishments
1) The greatest measure of success is that Spring Creek Coalition
continues to grow very rapidly. As SCC becomes more effective in
raising the awareness of local communities, SCC gains integrity. The
integrity of the organization attracts high caliber volunteers.
2) SCC collaborated with Grand River Dam Authority in recovering one of
the largest wild cat dumps in Cherokee County. Volunteers planted
trees, grass and wildflowers. The real success is that the effort was
appreciated by some but respected by all as indicated by a complete halt of
dumping.
3) SCC was awarded “Conservation Organization” for 1995 by the Oklahoma
Wildlife Federation.
4) Progress on stream assessment includes:
- Collection, identification and archiving of fish and
macro-invertebrates at all 8 test sites
- Habitat assessment at 2 sites
- Inventory of plants and trees and all 8 sites
- Water Quality data at all 8 sites
5) Spring Creek has been approved by EPA through Conservation Commission
for a multi-thousand dollar stream bank restoration demonstration project.
