The Manpower Behind Erosion Control

The topic of erosion control may not seem like it has a lot to do with agriculture from the outside, but if you think back to the Dust Bowl, you’ll realize that erosion control and responsibly using land has everything to do with agriculture. Now, how does manpower fit into that equation?

Back in the 1930’s, the Great Depression hit alongside one of the largest man-made natural catastrophes in America’s history; the Dust Bowl. Lessons that farmers, scientists, and everyday people learned from this chapter of our history textbooks is this: before nature gives us the fruits of our labor, we must ensure we give her something back.

A little overview of the Dust Bowl; how did it happen?

When the people of America who homesteaded (per the governments’ request) settled in the plains, they farmed little gardens to keep the family afloat. Decades later, their ancestors would “plow-up” their land to farm, fueled by rising wheat prices, a war in Europe and a couple good years of rain. They ran out the indigenous grasses and reaped the land of all of its nutrients by relentlessly farming. The farmers, not knowing the consequences, didn’t practice responsible farming techniques and robbed the soil of its nutrients. This caused the soil to not be able to grow anything well. Around the same time, drought struck the plains and added insult to injury; not only were the crops without nutrients in the soil, they were also without water. This cause the crops to fail over and over again. Without the indigenous grasses or any crops in place, the naturally high winds that haunted the plains picked up the loose, nutrient drained soil and spread its dry dust across the plains. This created massive dust storms, which marked the Dust Bowl period. This type of erosion is called wind erosion.

The aftermath of the Dust Bowl consisted of every scientist and environmentalist desperately trying to find a way to prevent anything as disastrous as that to ever happen again.

Government agencies like the Soil Conservation Service (SCS)—now the Natural Resources Conservation Service—began to stress soil conservation measures. Alongside the SCS was the U.S. Forest Service, US Department of Agriculture, and later on, The National Drought Mitigation Center.

Scientists started researching the catastrophe and gave answers to many lingering questions. With answers came solutions. The greatest expansion in research on the Dust Bowl in recent years has come in the atmospheric sciences.

Agriculture associations called for the practice of more conservative farming techniques.

Agriculture companies also got in the conversation too. After the dust bowl, a solution to replant came to life: Crested Wheatgrass. The grass could hold the topsoil down because it grew well despite droughts. Companies ended up going out and replanting the plains as part of awareness.

Farmers stepped up as well. Another severe drought occurred in the 1950s, but because of new farming practices, another Dust Bowl did not happen. Also, in the 1950s, natural gas was discovered in the area which lead to less dryland farming. The damage to the land was mitigated by the farmers who continued to use conservation methods. Also, because the government purchased almost four million acres of land during the Dust Bowl, the land was restored as national grasslands, which prevented the soil from blowing so much. Changes in agricultural practices has prevented a repeat of the Dust Bowl. Other measures were taken after the Dust Bowl, including but not limited to new and bigger reservoirs, improved domestic watering systems, farm policy changes, new insurance and aid programs.