Turkey Creek
Area: 117,506.2 acres
HUC: 040500012203 (what is a Hydrologic Unit Code HUC?)
Turkey Creek is the largest tributary to the main branch of the Elkhart River greater even than the North or South Branch of the Elkhart River, which drains 163.17 square miles and 115.39 square miles respectively.
Turkey Creek drains portions of Elkhart, Kosciusko, and Noble Counties including the towns and cities of Leesburg, Syracuse, Milford, Nappanee, and New Paris. It also includes many lakes including Lake Wawasee, Papakeechie Lake, Syracuse Lake, and Dewart Lake. Turkey Creek joins the Elkhart River just south of Waterford Mills (south side of Goshen) to the west of SR 15 and south of County Road 40.
According to the National Land Cover Database (NLCD) from 2011, 14.7% of the Turkey Creek Watershed has some kind of development, 7.5% is forested (NLCD 2001), 7.72% is wetlands, and the rest is agriculture (https://streamstats.usgs.gov/ss/).
How’s the water?
There are many ways that water quality can be tracked. Check out these helpful websites to look at data relating to water quality.
Watershed Partners
