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CONSERVATION CORNER
(For the week of March 2, 2009)
Deer Creek Watershed Receives Award
by James L. Cummins

At the Mississippi Association of Conservation Districts 64th Annual Meeting in Jackson on January 21, 2009, the Deer Creek Watershed Association (DCWA) received the U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service's State and National Earth Team Volunteer Group of the Year Awards. This association, a locally led organization with the purpose of addressing issues on Deer Creek, won the award for its clean-up efforts and its education outreach. Thirteen clean-up events in communities along Deer Creek have been held with over 1,100 volunteers performing over 3,300 hours of community service.

The DCWA is an organization of residents dedicated to improving the quality of life for the people who live on and visit Deer Creek by being an example of effective stewards of our natural environment. The objectives of the DCWA are to promote the clean-up of Deer Creek Watershed and its tributaries, develop educational programs that will promote greater stewardship of our natural resources, monitor and advocate for the reduction of sewage and run-off into the watershed and promote the historical, cultural and recreational aspects of the watershed.

Deer Creek is a 159-mile creek that flows from Lake Bolivar through five counties and into the Whittington Auxiliary Channel near Vicksburg. Once a navigable waterway fed by Mississippi River overflow, barges and boats traveled the creek until the early 1900s. Now portions of the creek have been reduced to a series of stagnant ponds filled only when the area has had heavy rainfall, this is especially true along the southern reaches of the creek. Deer Creek is one of those features of South Delta geography that many residents take for granted and have neglected when it comes to insuring beneficial water quality. The banks of Deer Creek contain some of the highest elevation land in the Delta and some of the most picturesque for residents and visitors alike, but in many places illegal dumping ruins that picture.

The approach that the DCWA and its many partners are taking is exactly how conservation was designed to work. It should begin with concerned citizens who have a vested interest in their local community. The DCWA has expressed a desire to remove brush and briars from the creek banks of each town. Gullies will be repaired and holes will be filled in, leaving trees and grassy areas so that aesthetic values will be improved. They believe that the lives of people will be enhanced by eliminating undesirable vegetation along the creek as well as removing litter and solid waste. We hope that the creek can be a source of pride for all citizens and that they will maintain the improved condition.