Watersheds Bryant Creek Watershed

Bryant Creek Watershed

The Bryant Creek watershed contains about 373,600 acres over 584 square miles. This is a beautiful hardwood and pine forested area with considerable land cleared for raising cattle. Latest figures on land use: grassland (includes pasture and hay forage crops): 141,233 acres, 221 square miles; forest: 227,032 acres, 355 square miles.

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Bryant Creek is a typical losing stream. It begins as an intermittent flow fed by several small drainages. The headwaters lie within what is now the Cedar Gap Conservation Area, at an altitude of about one thousand feet above sea level.

At Bryant Spring, near Ava, it becomes perennial for several miles, and around Dry Creek, it disappears underground. Just above Tarbutton Creek it resurfaces, and resumes its flow as a perennial (year-round) stream. At its confluence with the North Fork, its altitude is about five hundred and sixty feet above sea level. 

The total length of Bryant Creek is about 60 miles, from its headwaters in Wright County until it flows into the North Fork River just above Norfork Lake in Ozark County. It is floatable for 42.6 miles from Vera Cruz to the North Fork.

Bryant Creek Conservation Opportunity Area

The Missouri Department of Conservation has joined with partners to take an “all wildlife conservation” approach. Conservation Opportunity Areas (COA) are priority places for all wildlife conservation. Each Conservation Opportunity Area has a stakeholder team that determines goals and conservation actions. They also have resources available for public and private landowners interested in joining their local efforts.
 Download Bryant Creek COA report