Erosion Control

Erosion control is the practice of preventing or controlling wind or water erosion in agriculture, land development, and construction. It usually involves the creation of some type of physical barrier, such as vegetation or rock, to absorb some of the energy of the wind or water causing the erosion. Some examples of erosion control methods are given below.

1. Conservation tillage: It is used as a way to conserve soil and water resources as well as to mitigate the problems of erosion by tilling strips of soil for planting new crops and maintaining untilled portions of the land to serve as anchors for the soil.
2. Contour plowing: In this farming technique, plowing is patterned according to the contours of a sloped region to prevent runoff and allow water retention in the land
3. Terracing: This agricultural technique aids in planting along sleep slopes by breaking each slope into a series of slopes that are shorter and less steep, slowing down runoff and preventing water erosion.
4. Cover crops: These are any surface crops planted annually, biennially, or perennially, in conjunction with other crops or alone. They last through a part of a year or even an entire year, preventing erosion of the soil by wind and water. Cover crops are used as a means of sustainable cropping, preventing weeds, and reducing the leaching of nutrients from the soil.
5. Riprap and gabions: Riprap consists of rock or other material placed along a shore. It reduces shoreline erosion by protecting the land from the full impact of fast-flowing waves. Caged riprap structures are known as gabions.
6. Hydroseeding: Also referred to as hydromulching, it is a quick, economical, and effective means of establishing ground cover by planting grass in large areas of exposed soil. The seeds are mixed together in a slurry of mulch and other essential fertilizers and sprayed uniformly across the soil, creating a favorable, nutrient rich environment for the germination and establishment of grass seedlings into the soil.
7. Mulching: It is a process that uses mulch to cover and protect the soil from water erosion and to maintain moisture in the soil.
8. Reforestation: This method of mitigating soil erosion consists of restoring forests and woodlands in areas that were once deforested or stripped of vegetation.
9. Riparian strips: These are regions along a riverbank characterized by the growth of vegetation. They stabilize the soil and serve as natural controls against runoff and soil erosion.
10. Strip farming: It is used in steep, sloping areas to prevent soil erosion. In strip farming, alternating row and more tightly grown crops are sown next to one another, to stabilize the soil and enhance water retention and percolation.
11. Vegetated waterways: These are channels developed to stabilize and direct runoff in such a way as to reduce erosion.
12. Wattle (construction): It is an organization of interwoven plant materials used as a fence, preventing sedimentation by runoff and erosion.
13. Windbreaks: Also known as shelterbelts, they involve the planting of trees or shrubs along distinct parameters or in an arranged pattern to reduce erosion by wind. (NWE)

Terraces, conservation tillage, and conservation buffers save soil and improve water quality on this Iowa farm. [Photo by Lynn Betts, 1999, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service.]