Muddy Waters

Benson Creek lies within the Cache River Watershed in the Arkansas delta. The Cache and its main tributary Bayou DeView suffer from degraded water quality, characterized by elevated levels of nutrients, biocides, and (most noticeably) sediment.  According to locals, as recently as 50 years ago most of the low-gradient rivers and streams in eastern Arkansas still "ran clear... and (were) deeper and narrower as well."

New scientific evidence has shown that sediment and nutrient-laden waters not ony degrade habitat close to the source, but can affect downstream systems, sometimes hundreds of miles away. Degraded water quality in Arkansas has been shown to contribute to the second-largest zone of oxygen-depleted coastal waters in the world. Also known as the "dead zone," the hypoxic waters off the Louisiana coast (where the Mississippi River flows into the Gulf of Mexico) have more than doubled in size since 1984.

One of the main goals of this stream restoration is to serve as a demonstration site for water quality improvement within the Lower Mississippi River region. Our   monitoring plan includes installing and collecting data from a continuous sampling station located just downstream of our project area. This station, along with 6 others dispersed within the Cache watershed, is part of a larger study by The Nature Conservancy, in partnership with Arkansas Natural Resources Commission (ANRC), to understand the sources of elevated suspended sediment in the Cache River and Bayou DeView