ARS | Publication request: CONSERVATION MANAGEMENT IN MISSISSIPPI DELTA WATERSHEDS: BEASLEY LAKE AND RELATED RESEARCH

Submitted to: American Society of Agronomy Abstracts
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: August 23, 2004
Publication Date: October 31, 2004
Citation: Locke, M.A., Cooper, C.M., Cullum, R.F., Dabney, S.M., Knight, S.S., Moore, M.T., Shields Jr, F.D., Smith Jr, S. 2004. Conservation management in Mississippi Delta watersheds: Beasley Lake and related research [abstract]. American Society of Agronomy Abstracts. #4594.

Technical Abstract: As part of a national effort in partnership with USDA-NRCS to assess conservation management practices, USDA-ARS selected 12 benchmark watersheds for the first phase of evaluations. Beasley Lake watershed, Sunflower County, Mississippi, was selected as one of those benchmark watersheds. Beasley Lake was formerly a component of the Mississippi Delta Management Systems Evaluation Area (MSEA) Project, and the lake has been monitored since 1995. Beasley Lake is an oxbow lake resulting from a course shift by the nearby Sunflower River, and the watershed is typical of topography and cropping systems in the Mississippi Delta Region of the United States. The predominant crop is soybean, but corn and cotton are also grown in Beasley Lake watershed. Assessments related to this project include continued monitoring of lake water quality, evaluating runoff from edge-of-field sites with various management practices, quantifying effects of areas in the watershed that have shifted to forest (Conservation Reserve Program), and compiling watershed data from the past 9 years of monitoring.