TR-505 Implementation of Intensive Water Quality Monitoring and Evaluation to Support the Lake O’ the Pines National Water Quality Initiative (NWQI) – Phase I Final Report
Authors: L. Gregory, E. Rhodes, K. Wagner, B. Jonescu, K. Young
Conservation practices are commonly used to conserve natural resources and improve production in working lands; however, many benefits of these practices are not well defined. This project implemented water quality monitoring at various scales to document the effects of conservation practices implemented by the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service. The Lake O’ The Pines watershed in North East Texas was selected as an implementation area for the National Water Quality Initiative which provided additional funding for conservation activities. Through this program, conservation practices for working forest lands, grazing lands and poultry operations were implemented. Monitoring was conducted to quantify the water quality benefits of these practices compared to non-treated controls. Generally, significant differences in water quality occurred between treatment and control plots with most treated areas exhibiting better water quality.