The fish were small, and many were diseased. We also saw some hybridization where different species were interbreeding. The MSEA program is designed to test and develop farming methods that will work with nature, instead of damaging water quality. It began in the Midwest in 1990. Oxbow lakes are created when a river cuts a new path across a large bend, usually during flooding, and isolates a u-shaped section of the river.
Oxbows make perfect ecology laboratories because they are essentially closed ecosystems.
Each lake represents different kinds of farm management practices and how they affect water ecosystems. Phillip Barbour farms cotton and soybeans on the land around Deep Hollow Lake. He agreed to help the research teams by using best management practices on the land. That committed him to using not only cutting-edge erosion controls, but also the latest in pollution reduction techniques. Meanwhile, the farmer at Beasley Lake uses structural erosion barriers and the one near Thighman Lake, traditional farming practices.