Annual Beaver Lake Volunteer Day Event: September 29th, 2025 Register Now
Annual Beaver Lake Volunteer Day Event: September 29th, 2025 Register Now
Lake Taneycomo, nestled in Southwest Missouri, is best known as a premier trout fishing destination, but its cold waters are crucial for more than recreation. Created in 1913 when the Ozark Beach Dam was built, Lake Taneycomo was first intended to generate hydropower — today, it also provides drinking water for the City of Branson and a thriving recreation economy estimated at $15 million annually. Protecting this lake’s water quality is vital for aquatic life, human health, and the economic growth of our communities.
Despite this importance, Lake Taneycomo faces challenges from nonpoint source pollution. Through a partnership with the Ozarks Environmental and Water Resources Institute (OEWRI), a watershed management plan for protecting and improving this vital resource was completed and accepted by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in June of 2024. The Lake Taneycomo Watershed Management Plan [link: what is a watershed management plan? page under blog] is a community-driven strategy for addressing concerns with water quality. The plan is built on extensive research and stakeholder input, and aligned with EPA’s nine key elements, to identify priority areas and voluntary practices that reduce nutrient and sediment runoff, improve DO conditions, and protect the lake’s many designated uses.
See our priority areas for protection, learn about the voluntary practices we’re promoting, and be part of the effort to keep the Lake Taneycomo Watershed healthy for generations to come.
Note that this project was made possible through a grant from the Missouri Department of Natural Resource’s 319 Program for Non-Point Source Pollution Control, supported by the United States Environmental Protection Agency.
Plan Completed: June 2024
Stakeholders Engaged: over 100 volunteer hours given with representatives from 14 groups
Subwatersheds Assessed: 10 HUC12 subwatersheds
Miles of Land: 336 square miles of land
Impaired Waterways: 5.5 miles of Woods Fork and 2,119 acres of Lake Taneycomo
Pollutants of Concern: Nitrogen, phosphorous, and sediment
Sources of Concern: Runoff from pastureland and urban land, and streambank erosion, and other sources (detailed in the full plan)
Access Control – Limit livestock and wildlife from entering waterways with fences or other means to prevent erosion and protect aquatic habitat
Alternative Water – Provide a watering system for animals that is away from streams to prevent erosion and sediment in the waterway.
Heavy Use Protection – Plant vegetation or install erosion prevention materials to protect heavily trafficked areas
Forage and Biomass Planting – Plant native vegetation to absorb nutrients and surface runoff during storm events
Prescribed Grazing – Use grazing/browsing animals to harvest controlled amounts of vegetation.
Stormwater Infrastructure Improvement – Reduce and better control runoff during storms to prevent flooding
Streambank Stabilization – Use natural structures to protect eroding banks and reduce sediment in streams.
Water Quality Monitoring – Track nutrient and sediment levels, and other quality indicators at 10 additional sites to evaluate progress over time.
Our goals are to treat 441 acres of pastureland, 331 acres of urban area, and 125 feet of eroding streambanks per year.
Not all land in a watershed contributes the same amount of pollution. Critical Source Areas (CSAs) are small areas with specific land uses that send a much higher amount of pollution into waterways. By finding and focusing on these areas, we can target our efforts where they will have the most impact.
In the Lake Taneycomo Watershed, three main CSAs were identified:
1) Pastureland, which has the highest nonpoint source pollution among land uses,
2) Urban Areas, which have quadrupled in nutrient loads between 1992-2016, and
3) Riparian Corridors, which experience significant streambank erosion that adds sediment to the water.
Focusing on best management practices (BMPs) in these high-source areas is the most efficient way to reduce pollution and improve water quality. Our goal is to treat 25% of the urban and pastureland areas within each basin.
