Soil Erosion and Sedimentation

  History

Soil erosion first becomes an issue of concern to the federal government in the late 1920s when Hugh Hammond Bennett notices a decline in crop yields and relates this to soil quality. In 1928 he says, “That some 15,000,000 acres or more of formerly tilled land has been utterly destroyed by erosion in this country is but an insignificant part of the story, for it is the less violent form of erosional wastage, sheet erosion, that is doing the bulk of the damage to the land.” (Natural Resource Conservation Service).

As a result of the work of Hammond, in1933, the Department of Interior establishes the Soil Erosion Service (SES) in the Department of the Interior, with Bennett being named the first director. The SES and Civilian Conservation Corps work together to demonstrate ways in which soil erosion can be prevented. Linking the CCC and SES allows the comprehensive plans for soil conservation farming being developed by Bennett to be implemented.

Congress recognizes the importance of addressing soil erosion with passage of the Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act of 1935. This law declared that “soil erosion was a menace to the national welfare and authorized broad powers to the new agency, the Soil Conservation Services (SCS) to attack the problem” (Natural Resource Conservation Service). The purposes of this Act are to:

1. Provide financial assistance to agricultural producers for carrying out conservation and environmental enhancement measures.
2. Preserve and improve soil fertility;
3. Promote the economic use and conservation of the land;
4. Reduce the exploitation, wasteful, and unscientific use of national soil resources;
5. Protect rivers and harbors against soil erosion;
6. Abate agricultural-related pollution; and
7. Promotion of energy and water conservation through dry land farming.

Congress recognizes that the wasting of soil and moisture resources from agricultural lands is a menace to the national welfare. Congress directs the Secretary of Agriculture to coordinate all soil erosion activities and authorizes him to:

1. Conduct surveys, investigations, and research related to soil erosion and preventive measures;
2. Cooperate, enter into agreements with or provide financial assistance to agencies or persons; and
3. Acquire lands or interest in lands for the purposes of the Act. These activities could be conducted on federal property or any other lands, upon obtaining permission from the landowner.

The emphasis of this Act is on reducing soil erosion to protect soil productivity; however, the scope of the SCS’s work includes the interaction of soil and water. SCS works with landowners to use conservation measures to increase infiltration, reduce runoff, and prevent sediments from moving to the stream. The Flood Control Act of 1936 authorizes SCS to study measures for soil erosion control, runoff, and water flow retardation in select watersheds. The Flood Control Act of 1944 approves eleven of these plans for implementation. The Watershed Protection and Flood Prevention Act of 1954 establishes a more streamlined method to develop and implement watershed programs on upstream watersheds of less than 250,000 acres. Some of these projects involve drainage and channel modifications which become the objects of criticism in later years. Congress changes SCS’s name with passage of the Department of Agriculture Reorganization Act of 1994.

The reduction in velocity of the river and the increase in row crop agriculture over the past 60 years are making siltation a critical factor affecting the survival of mussels, fish and other aquatic species. In 1964, in the counties drained by the Illinois River, 47% of the land area is in row crop agriculture - 6,220,200 acres are planted in corn and 3,466,100 acres planted in soybeans. This increase in row crops is leaving the soil vulnerable to erosion (Mills 1966).

This silt is also removing habitat by filling in areas such as Lake Chautauqua near Havana, which by 1975 has lost 18.3% of its storage capacity. Quiver Lake formerly allowed boats to be launched, whereas, now the water is only a few inches deep, and willows are encroaching upon the lake (Sparks and Starrett 1975).