The US fish and wildlife service partners for fish wildlife (PFW) program and the natural resource damage, assessment, and restoration (NRDAR) program have been working through the shoal creek…

The US fish and wildlife service partners for fish wildlife (PFW) program and the natural resource damage, assessment, and restoration (NRDAR) program have been working through the shoal creek partnership with the neosho school farm to design and implement several practices to help restore habitat on the farm and improve production. The school will be actively managing the property and raising cattle as part of their agriculture education program and helping the service to manage native habitat as well. The newton county conservation district is helping to design the project. The primary conservation practice is stream protection which includes the following - installation of 7,000 FT of barbed 4 strand exclusion fencing, installation of 20,500 FT of electric 2 strand exclusion fencing, installation of a fence charger, installation of a water device, installation of 8 tanks, and installation of 7500 feet of pipe for the watering system. By excluding the stream from the grazing area, we are helping to protect the riparian corridor from overgrazing and over compaction and preventing the cattle from loafing in the stream. This helps to prevent further stream bank degradation and keeps excessive manure out of the stream, the ELM springs branch of shoal creek. This project is part of the larger shoal creek project in barry, lawrence, jasper, and newton counties. Partners are restoring sites along shoal creek and throughout the spring river watershed to improve stream health for the federally endangered neosho mucket and other aquatic life. Areas adjacent to the stream will also be restored to native vegetation.