Taylor - Soil Conservation

							The Road to Soil Erosion and Conservation
Brought to you by:

Laurel Taylor

Some Erosion is Absolutely Beautiful…

We will learn…
• The types of soil erosion • Management practices that aid in erosion control

What is Soil Erosion?
It is the movement of soil particles from one place to another under the influence of water or wind.

• Water Erosion

What are the types of soil erosion?
• Wind Erosion

Water Erosion
• Erosion by water is caused by raindrops, surface flow and gully flow. • Water erosion is a selective process in which the organic matter and finer soil particles are removed first. • This selective feature of soil erosion rapidly destroys productivity of cultivated lands.

• Splashing of raindrops separates organic matter, silt and clay from sand. • These materials are then washed away by surface flow and the heavy sand is left on the field.
• This sand is turned under at the next plowing of the field or mixed with the surface layer of the soil at the next cultivation.

Wind Erosion
Erosion by wind is common is dry areas where soils are often bare of vegetation and high wind velocities are common.

• Wind catches the organic matter, clay, and silt and then blows them away. • Sand and other coarse materials are left behind.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?

?
With the organic matter, silt, and clay being gone the nutrient bank is depleted and the crop production declines.

Human Practices contributing to Soil Erosion
• Plowing land which is unsuitable for cultivated crops.

• Plowing soil in areas with too little rainfall to support continuous crop production. • Braking up large blocks of land susceptible to erosion.

More Human Practices…
• Failure to maintain crop residues on the surface while the soil is not protected by growing crops.

• Exposing soil on slopes. • Removing natural vegetation from forest lands. • Reducing and weakening plant growth by overgrazing.

Results of Erosion in Agriculture
• Loss of the most essential part of the soil the topsoil, with its finer soil particles, better tilth, superior water-retention capacity, more plentiful mineral and organic elements and helpful bacteria. • Reduction of crop yields.

More Erosion in Agriculture…
• Need for greater use of plant and commercial fertilizers. • Production of lower nutrient crops. • Greater costs for production resulting in higher prices for consumers.

More Results of Erosion…
• Formation of gullies, which speeds up the erosion rate. • Covering of rich bottomlands by soils from poorer highlands. • Destruction of roadbanks and removal of bridges.

Even More Results of Erosion…
• Erosion by stream banks of valuable bottomland.

• Silting of ditches, streams, dams, lakes, and reservoirs. • Increase flood hazard because of more rapid runoff.
• Waste of water that could be used for other purpose.

Practices for the Control of Soil Erosion

Use thick-growing SOD CROPS:
Crops which cover the ground surface and fill the surface soil with fibrous roots tend to hold the soil in place and reduce erosion.

Cultivate On The Contour
This is the practice of planting and cultivating of crops following the contours of the land.

Strip Cropping
This is the practice of planting two crops in alternating strips or alternately planting a strip and leaving a strip fallow on land that would otherwise be erodible.

Terraces
This is the practice of constructing embankments or ridges across sloping soils.

Crop Rotation
• This is the growing of selected crops in a regular order on any particular field. • The principle objectives of a good rotation are to secure more economical and more consistent production of crops over a period of years and to control soil erosion.

Ponds and Dams
Artificial ponds hold or impound water which otherwise would be lost as runoff, and which in the process of runoff, would carry soil with it.

Pictures from…
• http://www.wpconline.org/dailyphotos/wpc-d-3-29.asp • http://pnwsteep.wsu.edu/directseed/conf99/dsproMcg.html • http://darkroompeople.com/drp9/photos/pisac/imagepages/image01 5.php • http://www.tractorco.com/Main%20Pages/CloseoutSpecial.htm • http://www.arnetttractor.net/prod01.htm • http://www.centerforsustainability.org/resources.php?category=254& root=243 • http://www.cosmicharmony.com/Ia/NaturWnd/NtrlWnd3.htm • http://topsoil.nserl.purdue.edu/nserlweb/weppmain/overview/contour b.html • http://www.paconserve.org