Water quality and associated best management practices on the Ocean Lake Hydrologic Unit Area, Fremont County, Wyoming

Over the past several years, Ocean Lake, located in Fremont County, Wyoming, has lost much of it's original capability to support a once flourishing sport fishery due in part to sediment delivery from agricultural practices. Increased sediment deposition in the lake from irrigation return flows has been cited as a cause of the deterioration (Pederson 1984). Best management practices included water control structures, sediment basins, channel stabilization, implementation of on-farm best management irrigation practices, grade stabilization structures, fencing and proper grazing use.;The ability of the best management practices to improve the water quality flowing into Ocean Lake was investigated. The amount of in-drain improvements were compared with water quality to evaluate temporal and spatial changes. These improvements were found to have decreased the concentrations of total suspended sediment by nearly 50% in the last ten years and improved channel stability. Temporal decreases in nutrients of over 200% in some instances were attributed to on-farm best management practices.