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Erosion Control Measures

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Summary

Summary of Erosion Lesson:

The implementation of erosion control measures is key to a more sustainable system and protecting soil, air, and water resources.
Erosion control focuses both on proactive and reactive measures to reduce soil loss and decrease environmental pollution.
Vegetative cover is the single most effective and economical measure to protect soil from erosion.
In urban settings, key practices such as rocking paths, silt fences, ground cover by vegetation or mulch, and impoundments are utilized in some, but not all conditions to reduce erosion and/or environmental impacts.
Erosion control measures for cropland involve an array of options to reduce water and wind erosion. Controls measures that are less permanent include the type of crop or vegetation and residue/tillage management. Other practices such as strip and contour cropping, waterways, terraces, are measures that further reducing erosion. These control measures reduce slope or length of hills and create buffers to catch sediments.
The Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) calculator is a tool used to estimate average annual soil loss caused by sheet and rill erosion. The equation is limited to making predictions for long-term annual soil loss.
The equation is A (predicted annual soil loss in tons/acre) = R*K*LS*C*P and the variables include rainfall and runoff factor, soil erodibility factor, slope factor, crop and cover factor, conservation practice factor.

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This project was supported in part by the National Research Initiative Competitive Grants CAP project 2011-68002-30029 from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture, adminstered by the University of California-Davis and by the National Science Foundation (NSF), Division of Undergraduate Education, National SMETE Digital Library Program, Award #0938034, administered by the University of Nebraska. Any opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the USDA or NSF.