Lake O’ the Cherokees Sub-Watershed

We ALL live in a watershed.

What is a Watershed?

A watershed is an area of land that drains the rain that falls on it and the streams that run through it to a common area, such as a pond, river, or lake. They can be as small as the area surrounding a pond, or as large as the one for the Mississippi River. No matter where you are, you are always in a watershed.

Think of it like a bathtub; all the water that comes into the bathtub, like through the showerhead, ends up flowing down the same drain. This is what happens to flowing water on land. If you are a resident with property in the Grand Lake watershed, the water that flows off your land flows into Grand Lake either directly or through a stream near your property. While much of the watershed lies in other states, everyone living in the watershed can have an impact on the water quality of the lake. It is up to each of us to help improve it.

Below is a map showing the Lake O’ The Cherokees Sub-Watershed, which is a part of the larger Grand Lake watershed. Think about where in the sub-watershed you live, and how you might be able to make some small changes to help protect the area around and downstream of you.

The overall Grand Lake watershed includes land in four states, encompassing 662,461 acres of land.

While the majority of the watershed is in Kansas, land in Missouri, Arkansas and Oklahoma also drain into the lake.

The Neosho River becomes the Grand River at the confluence of the Neosho and Spring Rivers and two more reservoirs were built along its 463 mile journey to the Arkansas River; Lake Hudson and Ft. Gibson Lake.

For more about watersheds, visit: https://modelmywatershed.org/