The agricultural component
of the BMP-effectiveness study consisted of water-quality monitoring at 2 stations on Little Otter Creek, upstream and downstream of a 190-acre dairy farm in Ferrisburg, Vermont.
The farm was recommended by the Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) in 1999, because there was a high likelihood it would receive an EQIP grant for BMP implementation within 1-3 years. The USGS collected data on concentrations of total phosphorus and suspended sediment from October 1999 through September 2005. Only the first of several planned BMPs (described below) was installed before the remaining BMPs were cancelled, which resulted in USGS monitoring being discontinued.
- Paved barnyard, barn roof gutters, milk-waste treatment (completed 2002)
- Nutrient management, cattle exclusion fencing along streambanks, and stabilized stream crossings (cancelled)
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click to enlarge location map
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Barnyard at the agricultural station before
barnyard improvement BMP. (click to enlarge) |
Barnyard at the agricultural station after
barnyard improvement BMP. (click to enlarge) |
Little Otter Creek showing need for cattle
exclusion
fencing and streambank stabilization. (click to enlarge) |
USGS MONITORING OF LITTLE OTTER CREEK
Listed here are the essential components of the study plan and links to data:
 Two
water-quality monitoring
stations, upstream and downstream of on-farm BMP activities
Statistical and graphical analyses to determine whether there were differences in phosphorus and suspended-sediment loads for the periods before and after barnyard BMPs that were constructed in 2002 (these results will be available in a 2007 USGS Scientific Investigations Report).
Links to Little Otter Creek streamflow data in the USGS National Water Information System (NWIS) database:
Station 04282650 located about 1 mile below the BMP site
Links to water-quality concentration data for Little Otter Creek, including total nitrogen (through 2000), total phosphorus, and suspended sediment, October 1999 through September 2005:
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