were taken throughout the year at regular intervals to document seasonal changes in water quality. A total of 16 physical and chemical measurements was determined by standard methods.

The reservoir typically stratifies thermally and chemically during warm weather months (June-October) and deeper waters may repel fish during the period, due to low oxygen content and the buildup of noxious gases. This condition is normal in large mainstream impoundments of the southeastern United States and is not considered a hindrance to the establishment and maintenance of a sport fishery. West Point Reservoir is further subject to inflows of waters heavily laden with colloidal soil particles, particularly during the winter and spring months. The resulting turbid conditions drastically reduce light penetration during these periods. Water hardness and alkalinity are relatively low (< 20 mg/1 as CaCO3), but the important plant nutrients nitrogen and phosphorus are abundant-particularly in the reservoir headwaters and Yellowjacket Creek, which receive treated wastewater from the cities of Atlanta and LaGrange, Georgia, respectively.

ccompanying limnological studies were also carried out to determine if plant nutrients were being utilized efficiently in the production of a food base for fish food organisms. Measurements of the primary productivity (rate of carbon fixation by the phytoplankton as determined by the carbon-14 method), standing crop and composition of plankton communities and qualitative and quantitative estimates of bottom dwelling invertebrates have revealed that West Point Reservoir is a fertile lake, in that it has produced sufficient fish foods to support a relatively high fish biomass (350 kilograms per hectare). There have been numerous attempts to relate various environmental factors to fish production, but no single factor explains a significant amount of variation therein. However, if more than one variable is considered, the correlation improves considerably.

To date, observed changes in the black bass population structure are apparently not due to any changes that have occurred in the physical and chemical quality of the environment, nor in the production of invertebrate fish food organisms. They are, apparently, a product of the growth and survival rate expressed by the initial year class of bass in a new reservoir.

In summary, while bass fishing remains good on West Point Reservoir, the boom appears to have passed prematurely. Perhaps in other new reservoirs regulations that limit the harvest of the initial year class would permit the population to develop greater depth as subsequent year classes are recruited. Fishing success for the trophy bass would therefore improve as bass of a larger size accumulate in the reservoir.

and enter adjacent streams compared to about 350 tons annually in past years.

Cleaner water downstream is not the only benefit from the work that was done, however. The farm's productivity will also increase. Edwards predicts a 25 percent increase in corn production next year and a 50 percent increase in pasture grazing capacity.

In all, 13 different soil and water conservation practices were applied during Project Clearwater. Says Edwards, "Our strategy is to handle the raindrops from the time they strike the surface of this farm until they leave by the flowing stream."

Roelkey says he was delighted when his farm was chosen

for the project even though he knew it would mean relinquishing much of his family's privacy. He agreed to it, however, because he had become distressed in recent years about the tremendous amount of soil washing off his steep fields and silting in nearby streams.

In anticipation of the field day, Roelkey's cornfield had been planted on the contour in early spring. About 80 acres of cropland were converted to contour stripcropping-a decades-old practice that alone can reduce erosion up to 75 percent. During Project Clearwater, every other strip was cut for silage and planted with a mixture of hay and timothy. These alternating strips of a close growing crop will trap sediment from the cultivated rows above. The silage-about 500 tons worth-was stored in a newly built, concrete-lined trench silo. The old trench silo was pushed in because liquids from it were draining directly into a nearby stream.

Bulldozers and graders constructed nearly a mile of diversion terraces-shallow, grass-lined channels that divert runoff around hillsides and greatly reduce the erosive force of the water. Gullies were pushed in and replaced with sod waterways to safely transport runoff from the diversions to the stream below.

To promote better plant cover, pastures were limed and seeded. An old abandoned orchard, where trees had become

barnyard "rehabing" included installing a new fence and moving the hogs to a new barn away from the stream.

scraggly and the ground cover sparse, was cleared and seeded to orchardgrass and clover.

One of the most dramatic transformations occurred in a wet, low area near the barn. Here, bulldozers scooped out a new 1.1 acre pond, which, when filled, will trap sediment and supply water for the farm stock animals and recreation for the family.

The pond will also supply two new watering troughs that will make water accessible to livestock and keep the animals out of streams. Railroad ties and crushed stone, forming a walk-in livestock drinking facility, were arranged along the banks of another stream for the same purpose.

To encourage growth of the strongest and most productive species, the woodland was selectively thinned. The resulting timber was cut and used for repairs and fence posts. About 11⁄2 miles of new fence was laid out on the contour of the land to control livestock grazing and keep them from trampling the undergrowth in the woods. Drainage tile, installed with

A system of contour stripcropping and diversions will reduce erosion on Roelkey's cultivated fields by about 80 percent.