---
# System prepended metadata

title: Tar Creek Vegetation and Ecosystem

---

# Tar Creek Vegetation and Ecosystem


## Research Topics

### 1. Vegetation profile and land cover change under heavy metal pollution

### 2. Local species tied with tribal cultural practices
#### 2.1 List of native culturally important plants to be restored


| Latin Name                                                                                             | Common Name           |
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | --------------------- |
| Rorippa nasturtium aquaticum                                                                           | Watercress            |
| Rudbeckia laciniata                                                                                    | Cutleaf Coneflower    |
| Arundinaria gigantean                                                                                  | River Cane/Giant Cane |
| Castanea Ozarkensis                                                                                    | Ozark Chinquapin Nuts |
| Allium mutabile                                                                                        | Wild Onions           |
| Verbascum thapsus                                                                                      | Mullein               |
| hickory (various species), walnut, pecan                                                               | Nuts                  |
| Castanea Ozarkensis                                                                                    | Ozark Chinquapin Tree |
| Panax sp.                                                                                              | Ginseng               |
| various species                                                                                        | Mushrooms             |
| wild grapes/possum grapes, elderberry, blackberry, mulberry, sumac berries, huckleberries, plums, pers | Berries/Fruits        |
| Lonicera flara                                                                                         | Wild Honeysuckle      |
| Justicia Americana                                                                                     | American Water Willow |

> The Refuge staff will gather a list of native grasses, forbs, and locally significant plants from sources such as the NRCS, local Tribes, and historical references. The text box on the next page provides a preliminary list of native, culturally significant plants that local Tribes have identified and shared with FWS. The FWS anticipates working with local Tribes to incorporate plants from this list into the restoration. 

[Reference](#Tar-Creek-Restoration-draft)

#### 2.2 Natural Resource and Species Interaction - Quapaw Tribe in Historical Context

> Farming. Annual reports record Quapaw engagement in agriculture. Other
observers note that Quapaw men mostly hunted, while women farmed small patches behind farmsteads (Thompson, 1955). The Quapaw retained their traditional gender division of labor in which men cleared the fields and hunted while women farmed and also prepared the hides. Jones (1997) suggests that Quapaw engagement in hunting for the colonial market may have altered this division of labor, or at least increased women’s hide preparation labor. Corn remained a major part of the Quapaw diet; one report notes difficulties caused when the State of Arkansas provided wheat flour instead of corn meal as emergency rations for dislocated Quapaw (the recipes they used could not simply substitute wheat for corn). 

> Orchards, pecans, and nut oils. There is evidence that the Quapaw ate nuts and more general evidence for the importance of nut oils. In the main, however, hickory and black walnuts were the species commonly used for oil, although pecans were used whole or as nut paste. They planted or encouraged nut trees close to settlements, and also grew peach orchards. 

#### 2.3 Vegetation in Ottawa County
https://www.inaturalist.org/places/ottawa-county#taxon=47126

#### 2.4 Oklahoma’s Native Vegetation Types
https://extension.okstate.edu/fact-sheets/oklahomas-native-vegetation-types.html

### 3. Agricultural conditions and opportunities



## Reference list

### Vegetation and land cover
##### Deforestation map
https://www.globalforestwatch.org/

##### Species database - countywide
https://species.mol.org/species/map/Perdix_dauurica
https://www.pollenlibrary.com/Local/Species/in/Ottawa%20County/OK/in/Spring/


### Agriculture
##### County agriculture survey data
https://www.nass.usda.gov/Publications/AgCensus/2017/Online_Resources/County_Profiles/Oklahoma/cp40115.pdf

##### National Agriculture Imagery Program
https://www.usgs.gov/centers/eros/science/usgs-eros-archive-aerial-photography-national-agriculture-imagery-program-naip
https://code.earthengine.google.com/?scriptPath=Examples%3ADatasets%2FUSDA_NAIP_DOQQ

##### Agriculture classification using Google Earth Engine
https://czhang11.users.earthengine.app/view/agkit4ee-cdl-explorer

##### Agriculture and remediation methods
https://academic.oup.com/bioscience/article/67/9/868/4080176?login=true

### General Environment
##### EPA report
https://www.leadagency.org/uploads/1/2/1/3/121336053/tasc_ou5_hhra_summary.pdf

##### Quapaw
https://health.oregonstate.edu/sites/health.oregonstate.edu/files/research/pdf/tribal-grant/QTI-D2-SCENARIO-1-4-08-Final.pdf

##### Environment Report
https://www.cerc.usgs.gov/orda_docs/DocHandler.ashx?task=get&ID=2976

##### Tar Creek Restoration draft
https://www.fws.gov/southwest/es/Oklahoma/Documents/Contaminants/draft%20phase%201%20rpea_tar%20creek_nov%202021.pdf

### Remediation and Biobuel
Profitable Phytoremediation of Contaminated Soils with Biofuel Crops
https://www.scirp.org/html/8-6701800_30858.htm#txtF4

Phytoextraction of toxic metals by sunflower and corn plants
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/267031064_Phytoextraction_of_toxic_metals_by_sunflower_and_corn_plants

Drawing the connection between diversified agriculture, renewable energy, and food production in Vermont
https://smallfarms.cornell.edu/2013/10/sunflowers-from-field-to-fuel/


### Other Online Resources

- [LEAD Agency](https://www.leadagency.org/)
- [OK DEQ](https://www.deq.ok.gov/)
- 