Sugar Creek Method

Water Quality and Testing Along the Sugar Creek

B. A New Approach:       (next)       (return to Water Quality Testing outline page)

The Sugar Creek Method involves a new, culturally based and common sense approach that:

• allows people to envision a 21st century headwaters with new opportunities that are economically profitable, socially responsible, and environmentally compatible.

• emphasizes cooperative relationships between local people based on local knowledge

• involves upstream to downstream remediation starting in the headwaters

• treats each tributary as unique biologically, physically, and socially

• promotes long-term farmland preservation

Recent research, published in Science May 2001, indicates that small size streams, or headwaters streams, may be the most important part of the river system for regulating water chemistry because their large surface to volume ratios favor N uptake and processing.

• Preliminary research results on the hyporheic zones of streams -- the region in which subsurface and ground waters mix in the sediment at the sides and bottom -- show that hyporheic activity accounted for up to 70 percent of stream respiration as oxygen demand and 10 to 50 percent of nitrate uptake.
• The results suggest that the retention of nitrate in the stream increases with the size of the hyporheic zone.
• Downstream communities that know upstream communities are correcting the pollution are more likely to cooperate with the remediation efforts in their own communities.

The Sugar Creek Method approach leads to developing Informal ties between people:

• (sharing the riparian zone for walks, hunting, fishing).
• Group purchase and group planning and planting of tree species or other needed conservation practices.
• Group reintroduction of important headwater species.
• Restoration of fragmented riparian zones and discussion about conservation easements.
• AMP and government agencies assist in helping the groups envision future possibilities.
• Ecological farming practices to find ways to save money and reduce N and P runoff.
• Possibility for larger-scale cooperative marketing efforts
• Conservation easement incentives
• Possible designation as an Agricultural Security Area for a CAUV tax deferral as recommended by the Wayne County Farmland Preservation Task Force (500 acres necessary)

The Sugar Creek Method approach leads to high density water quality testing: 

One site per 1 to 2 sq. miles:

• This plan was a Farmer Partner Team Idea
• Need for site located near each farm so each farmer could relate to the data—social responsibility + objective reality
• 21 sites tested every other week for 2 years—increasing to 65 sites this year.
• Led to “hot spot” approach
• Complementary to Primary Headwater Initiative (1 sq mile drainage basin)

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