Introduction
There are 69 "HUC-11" watersheds in the Licking River and nearby Ohio River tributaries. These were ranked using a diverse set of empirical and surrogate data to evaluate the condition of the basin unit, and this data was run through a formula during calendar year 2001. That procedure is documented elsewhere.
The Licking River Basin Team categorized one-third of these watersheds as "high"; i.e., those that ranked one through 23. From these 23, the team was charged with selecting several "priority watersheds." The factors used in this second step of prioritization addressed feasibility: local willingness to address issues, probability of securing funds to address issues and technical ability to address issues. The team explored local interest primarily through telephone conversations and presentations. Since the most pervasive issue is pathogens - from both humans and animals, the focus was generally on the health departments and the agricultural boards (conservation districts). However, contracts were also made with people concerned with the effects of increasing population.
On Jan. 15, 2002, the Licking River Basin Team made an official selection of the priority watersheds in which to focus efforts for the one and one-half years remaining in the basin unit's five-year cycle. These are Licking River headwaters, Strodes Creek (South Fork headwaters) and Banklick Creek. The team also selected several "key" watersheds, which are described below.
While deciding how many priority watersheds to select, the team explored potential limitations. Since this project is new, the conclusions are preliminary. However, they generally agreed that the chief limitation would be the time and energy available to the basin coordinator. A couple of Licking River Team members also serve on the Kentucky Basin Team, which is one year ahead in the framework process, and they offered their observations. The final decision was to select three "priority watersheds" and to specifically support work in several others, recognizing the others as "key": deserving of special attention where possible.
For the priority watersheds, the team accepts the framework goal of establishing a locally directed stakeholder group (task force or council), developing a workplan for improving the conditions in the watershed and implementing that plan. The basin coordinator is expected to guide these activities, providing assistance "as little as possible but as much as necessary" for success. The deadline for workplan development is June 2002. Significant progress in implementation is expected by June of 2003, when the framework cycle returns to "year one."
For the key watersheds, the team intends to provide assistance to ongoing efforts and to explore additional options, without specifically requiring a workplan or watershed-wide task force. The key watersheds include one that was prioritized by the Clean Water Action Plan; one in which the team recommended the Kentucky Waterways Alliance establish a stakeholder group (watershed council) under a 319(h)-funded project; and one that met priority criteria but was overshadowed by a nearby, headwater, watershed. Each of these watersheds and the rationale for team decisions is described below.
The team will provide recommendations for each of the 69 11-digit HUC watersheds in the unit by the end of December 2002.
First Priority Watersheds
The Licking River headwaters (05100101010)
Two stream reaches in the headwater HUC of the Licking River are on the 1998 "303(d)" list of impaired waters. The section from near Gunlock to Trace Fork is a first priority 303(d) site. The mainstem section downstream from Salyersville is a second priority 303(d) stream reach for aquatic life, due to both organic enrichment/dissolved oxygen and siltation.
Most of this watershed unit lies near and southeast of Salyersville in Magoffin County. The landscape is intricately dissected by mountains and creek bottoms, underlain by Pennsylvanian-age sandstone and shale rock. The watershed ridge matches the southeast and western boundaries of Magoffin County. It is in the eastern coalfields of the Appalachian Plateau.
This watershed is larger than most of the others in the basin unit. It is not feasible to make a detectable, significant difference in the entire watershed in the timeframe allotted by the management framework. Therefore, the team recommends that planning and implementation efforts focus on the upper headwaters section (southern Magoffin County).
The streams are entrenched in steep, narrow valleys. The watershed includes the Licking River mainstem watershed, upstream of the confluence with Johnson Creek. This watershed unit does not include Johnson Creek or the Left or Right forks; it does include Wolf Branch, Cripple Creek, Elk Fork, State Road Fork and many other tributaries upstream of Salyersville. Most of the watershed upstream from Salyersville is in the protection area for the town's drinking water. The area is also subject to flooding.
The ridge for this watershed unit matches the southeast and western boundaries of Magoffin County. This headwater's area is generally in hardwood forest, with many mine sites and small areas of cropland. Roads generally follow streams, so homes and other structures are also along the creeks. Slope, shallow soils or flooding severely limit the effectiveness of septic field drainage. The only sewer service is in Salyersville, although there are plans for line extensions.
Above the mouth of Puncheon Creek, slopes are steep (30 percent to 70 percent) and soils are shallow. Below the mouth of Puncheon, there is some floodplain area along the river with limited relief (0 percent to 6 percent slopes), but most of the land is steep (20 percent to 50 percent). The infiltration rate is usually moderate but sometimes slow. Runoff is rapid. The potential for sediment runoff is high in most of the area and medium or even low in the bottoms.
Sampling in this watershed has produced mixed but generally negative results for aquatic life. Toward the upstream end, aquatic life is threatened but currently supporting uses - i.e. adequate. On the mainstem between Trace Fork and Salyersville, a biological assessment indicated no significant problems; below Salyersville, the biological assessment is "partially supporting." Oakley and State Road Fork both show poor biological populations despite the presence of good habitat. The assessment "causes" are siltation, flow alterations, habitat alterations other than flow and turbidity. The sources of the causes are listed as silvicultural harvesting, restoration and residue management; surface mining; subsurface mining; abandoned mining; inactive mining; removal of riparian vegetation; and bank modification/destabilization.
The mainstem Licking River in this watershed has not been tested for bacteria (fecal coliform). However, two tributaries have been tested and proven to have excessive pathogens: Puncheon Creek and Burning Fork.
Competitors for this site selection included several other sites in Magoffin and Morgan counties: Johnson Creek, White Oak Creek, Middle Fork Licking River and the mainstem farther downstream. Those in Magoffin County were considered because of the support offered from an active community health group. This group is prepared to go door-to-door with a health-related survey and to include watershed issues in that effort. The local government and health officials are actively involved in this group. Hopefully, the idea of improving the health in the very headwaters of the river will capture the imagination of others in Magoffin County and improve the chances of health advances for the other watersheds.
Strodes Creek (0500102030)
Strodes Creek is a main headwater stream of the South Fork of the Licking River. About two-thirds of the watershed unit is in Clark County; the rest is in Bourbon County. The watershed drains the northern side of Winchester. The landscape is undulating: typical Inner Bluegrass. It is underlain by Middle Ordovician-age shale and limestone.
In addition to the Strodes Creek mainstem, this unit includes the watersheds of Green, Johnson, Hancock, Hoods and Woodruff creeks. Most of the Bourbon County part of the watershed is in the "zone 3" or "Zone of Potential Impact" of the drinking water protection area for Paris. This watershed has more wetland areas, for its size, than almost all the other watersheds in the Licking River Basin unit. It is subject to flooding.
This area is generally a balanced mix of hardwood woodlots and agricultural uses, with residences scattered throughout and more urban areas around Winchester and along major roads, including I-64. Lack of percolation and – less frequently – slope or shallow soils post severe limits to effective septic tank absorption fields. Sewer service is available in Winchester and in the downstream watersheds of Hancock and Hoods Creeks.
Slopes in this area vary from 0 percent to 20 percent but are predominantly 0 percent to 12 percent. Infiltration rates are generally slow, runoff rates are medium and there is a medium potential for sediment runoff.
Strodes Creek has been officially assessed from Hoods Creek to Green Creek. It was found to be nonsupporting overall, with partial support for aquatic life. Physical/chemical indications were supporting. The "causes" of impairment were found to be pathogens, nutrients, siltation and organic enrichment/low dissolved oxygen. The sources of these causes were found to be municipal (point source), agriculture, construction, urban runoff/storm sewers and habitat modification other than hydromodification.
In the data-driven ranking process for the Licking River basin unit, this watershed emerged quite high among the basin's watersheds, indicating primarily a need for restoration but also significant preservation value. Pollution from human and/or animal waste (fecal coliform, i.e. pathogens) is very high compared to the other watersheds in the unit. The area is underlain by limestone and therefore sensitive to groundwater contamination. It has a higher concentration of violations of discharge permits (KPDES) than most of the Licking River Basin. The potential for contamination due to both fertilization and pesticide use is high. The area has suffered flooding.
On the more positive side, this watershed has more wetland areas, for its size, than almost all the other watersheds in the Licking River Basin unit; also, it exhibited positive botanical and aquatic life characteristics when Kentucky's rivers were assessed in 1992.
The South Fork mainstem was one of the competitors for selection in this area of the basin unit. Hinkston Creek, another headwater stream, was also a competitor. There is strong local government support for action in the Strodes Creek watershed, which was not found in Hinkston Creek. The final competitor was Townsend /Silas Creeks, which was selected as a "key" watershed.
Banklick Creek (0510010290)
Banklick Creek is a first priority 303(d) stream and a nonpoint source priority watershed.
The Banklick Creek watershed covers more than two-thirds of Kenton County; the headwaters include a long, narrow stretch of Boone County along the county line. The watershed drains the eastern side of Florence, which lies on the watershed ridge, and many other towns and subdivisions east of Florence and around Independence. It is very hilly, dubbed "hills of the Bluegrass," and underlain by Upper Ordovician-age limestone and shale.
Tributaries to Banklick Creek include Bullock Pen (and the lake), Doe Run, Wolf Pen, Thompson Branch, Brushy Fork and Holds Branch. There are direct discharges to streams, during storm events, from stormwater and untreated sewage ("combined sewer overflows"). The entire watershed is in the water supply protection area for Northern Kentucky Water Service District's intake, with more than five miles in their "critical" protection zone. There are more wetlands per area than in most of the other watersheds in the Licking River Basin unit.
In the mid-90s, land-use mapping showed this watershed as about half deciduous forest, scattered in small woodlots, and about one-quarter "mixed-urban." The northeastern edge of the watershed is near I-75, and I-275 bisects the northern half. Slopes vary from 2 percent to 30 percent, with most in the 12 percent to 30 percent range. The area's slow infiltration rate and slopes severely limit the effectiveness of septic tank drainage fields. Runoff is naturally very rapid. Most of the area has sewer service, but the density of unsewered population remains high. Moreover, these same factors, coupled with the density of impermeable surfaces (pavement and roofing), create significant challenges for stormwater management. The area generally has a high, but sometimes medium, potential for sediment runoff.
Banklick Creek has been officially assessed in two segments: from Holds Branch to Horse Branch and from Horse Branch to the mouth of Banklick. Both were rated "nonsupporting" overall and for swimming specifically. The lower section was also rated for aquatic life; that section was judged "partially supporting" for biology, with "nonsupporting" habitat.
The data-driven ranking process for the Licking River Basin unit indicated a very high need for restoration in the Banklick Creek watershed and some preservation needs as well. The ranking is related to the density of human activity. The waterways have high bacterial content (fecal coliform, indicative of pathogens), which is logical due to the amount of human wastewater generated without adequate treatment and in an area unsuitable for septic fields. There is potential for contamination due to potential pollutants such as underground storage tanks, and the number of sites with demonstrated contamination is high. The number of discharge permits and violations of those permits is significant. Furthermore, there are significant projections for an increase in population density. On the preservation end, this watershed has more wetlands per area than most other watersheds in the Licking River Basin unit.
Other competitors in the northern, more densely inhabited, area of the basin unit included McCools Creek, Woolper Creek, Ohio River watersheds between Woolper and Gunpowder Creeks and from Four Mile Creek to the mouth, and the Licking River mainstem. Banklick was selected because of local interest in establishing a workgroup and existing activities of the local sanitation district.
Other Key Watersheds
Fleming Creek (0500101200)
Extensive effort has gone into development of a TMDL analysis for eight different stream reaches in the Fleming Creek watershed. It is a nonpoint source priority watershed and has had several years of intensive attention, funded through the 319(h) program. In addition, it has been recognized for several years as a priority through the Clean Water Action Plan: a framework-type process, compressed into a short time frame for site selection. That selection was made jointly by the Division of Water, the Division of Conservation and the Natural Resources Conservation Service. There is an active group in the Fleming Creek watershed and significant funding. Therefore, the basin team identified Fleming Creek as a pre-existing priority.
Competitors for prioritization in Fleming County included Johnson Creek and Locust Creek. Because the existing activity in the Fleming Creek watershed requires active, almost county-wide participation, the team did not want to compete with that effort and therefore did not select another site nearby.
Cabin Creek (05090201130)
Cabin Creek is a 1st priority on the 303(d) list and a first priority nonpoint source watershed. The basin team recommended Cabin Creek as a priority for development of a "watershed council": a group to be convened by the Kentucky Waterways Alliance under a 319(h) grant because of these two listings. The team thinks it important to support and build on the Waterways Alliance efforts. There was only one competitor for prioritization in the eastern section of the Ohio River corridor in the basin unit: from Bracken to Locust creeks. There was no evidence of local interest to support work in that area.
Townsend and Silas Creeks (0501001)
Townsend and Silas creeks include a higher percentage of stream miles that pose a pathogen risk than any other watershed (that has been sampled for pathogens) in the basin. Their joint watershed also has a high percentage of karstic (sinkhole) land, which makes groundwater especially susceptible to contamination. The area has significant potential for contamination from pesticides and fertilizers. There is strong local support, including Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) activity, in the watershed. CRP implementation may greatly improve the pathogen problem. However, new and perhaps intense development is expected in the headwater of this small watershed, and the team thinks it important to keep an active eye on the area. Competitors in this area were discussed above, in the "Strodes Creek" section.
Prepared by: Pamla Wood
Division of Water
February 5, 2002
