Greetings from the Lake of the Ozarks

Greetings from the Lake of the Ozarks! Caroline Toole, here, working with LOWA (Lake of the Ozarks Watershed Alliance) and AmeriCorps (MO Clean Water AmeriCorps Program, hosted by MO Rivers Communities Network (MRCN)), in service to our community! Do you realize how large the entire watershed of the Lake of the Ozarks (LOZ) is? If I say the watershed is over 8.6 million acres, that may sound like a lot, and it is, but it’s hard to visualize. If I say the LOZ watershed begins at Bagnell Dam and extends westward, well into Kansas, that might help a little. Many people think about the area draining from Bagnell Dam to Truman Dam, at Warsaw, as being LOZ’s watershed. But the water making up the Lake of the Ozarks comes from many different sources, not only from far away, but also from here at home and everywhere in between.
I’ve been using the term, watershed, quite a lot, but how many people understand what a watershed is and what it means to live in the watershed for a body of water? A watershed is the area of land that, when it rains, drains to a particular body of water, like a creek, or a river, or a pond, or a lake. A little watershed is part of a bigger watershed, which is part of an even larger watershed, as for example, a creek flows into a river, which flows into a bigger river, until the water eventually reaches the ocean. For example, that means that my stream team site, at Howards Ford on the Little Niangua near Climax Springs (see photo below), is in the watershed of the Little Niangua. Historically, the Little Niangua flowed into the Niangua, which flowed into the Osage River. Now, of course, with the Lake of the Ozarks, the Little Niangua becomes part of LOZ before it even reaches the Niangua, which also becomes part of LOZ well upstream of its historical junction with the Osage. Lake of the Ozarks, at Bagnell Dam, becomes the Osage River again, and the Osage flows into the Missouri River just south of Jefferson City and the Missouri flows into the Mississippi River just north of St. Louis, and the Mississippi flows into the Gulf of Mexico, down around New Orleans, Louisiana. The Gulf of Mexico is connected to the Atlantic Ocean, and the Mississippi Watershed is the largest watershed in North America.

All those watersheds for one little stream team site on the Little Niangua is a lot of different watersheds. But, are they really different watersheds? Yes, and no, however, they are all connected watersheds. With everything being connected, what we do in one part of the watershed does have an effect on other parts of the watershed. LOWA is concerned with the part of the LOZ watershed that drains from Truman Dam to Bagnell Dam, and has recently been involved with writing a watershed management plan for the Lake of the Ozarks. This watershed management plan, or WMP, is really just a beginning step in the long term effort to maintain and improve the water quality of the Lake of the Ozarks – no little task! This WMP, like all watershed management plans, is written as a living, dynamic document, open to updates, amendments, and modifications. Copies of the document, once approved by MO Dept. of Natural Resources, will be made available to everyone. An electronic copy will be online at http://www.soslowa.org/ and a loose-leaf paper copy in a binder will be available at the LOWA office, presently in Laurie at Realty Executives (office space and office equipment donated by Jim and Nancy Rogers at lakebuy.com). These copies will be updated as changes arise and are made. In addition, bound hard copies will be available for public viewing at public library branches and county court houses in the 4-county LOZ watershed, which includes Benton, Camden, Miller, and Morgan Counties.
Writing a watershed management plan is 100% a service to the community. Not only is this a researched document presenting problems (impairments) in a watershed and solutions to these problems (Best Management Practices – BMPs), but the entire community can now utilize this document to springboard their own community development plans and projects. A WMP is written with input from the community, and is written for the community’s use.
Your local, grassroots watershed alliance (LOWA) is now using this WMP to plan and design exciting community service watershed activities like the LOWA LILs program (LIL = Low Impact Landscaping), a cost-share program where home owners can receive back part of the cost of installing rain gardens and other innovative stormwater treatment projects designed to reduce stormwater runoff. There’s a lot of work ahead of us and LOWA can always use some volunteer help on many different levels, from writing thank you letters, calling volunteers, and filing in the office, to helping to write grants, organize events, and design projects. You can call me, Caroline Toole, at 573 374 1331 ext 16, call Donna Swall at 573 434 4400, email LOWA or me at ckingtoole@yahoo.com, or visit the LOWA website at http://www.soslowa.org/, and contact us there.
Please remember, we all live in a watershed and what we do does matter. Every little bit helps. Think globally, act locally is more than a slogan. There is a large dead zone where the Mississippi empties into the Gulf of Mexico where, because too many of nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus make low oxygen levels in the water, life cannot exist. When we over fertilize, or allow wastes to get into the lake, we are contributing to that dead zone, as well as contributing to a less healthy, more stressed Lake of the Ozarks. LOWA has some great ideas and exciting projects brewing! Stay tuned, educate yourself, and keep in touch! Happy Holidays to you and yours!