A22-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, August 22, 1998
Ag Progress Visitors See
ANDY ANDREWS
Lancaster Fanning Staff
ROCKSPRING (Centre Co.)
With an infusion of soil and stone
cover, conservationists can repair
waterways and diversions that
have been damaged by large min
or snowstorms, according to Joel
Myers, state agronomist with the
Natural Resource Conservation
Service (NRCS).
Myers spoke to about
two dozen visitors Wed
nesday afternoon during
a conservation tour at
Ag Progress Days.
According to the state
agronomist and conser
vationist, steep, highly
erodible fields at the Ag
Progress Days site at the
Russell E. Larson Ag
Center in Rockspring
were effected by
drenching rains in the
spring. The long
duration event created
water seepage from a
terraced area on a slope
along the back hills of
the Ag Progress site to a
waterway.
The purpose of the
waterway is to allow
amounts of water to
drain from the hilly
areas at the site, downs
lope, without eroding
the topsoil.
While the damage
was not severe, some
damage can be expected
during long-duration,
heavy rain events.
Myers showed tour
goers a water collection
basin dug with a drain
age pipe. The pipe area
is deep enough to collect
sediment and allow the
water to be diverted
down the hill without
eroding soil. The pipe
outlet system controls
events that create long
duration water flow.
Myers said, “It’s
often difficult to get
water from the terrace to
the waterway without
having a little bit of a
problem."
The seepage caused
ruts and some erosion,
but nothing significant
to warrant emergency
repair. Some sections
were still muddy but the
grass was gradually
returning, and some
additional repair at the
site is warranted.
One way to prevent
further damage is to
stack bales of straw
where seepage begins to
occur at the waterway.
Ultimately, stones and
soil can be used to
regrade the site.
Myers demonstrated
the crop terracing sys
tem in place, normally
planted to field crops
with buffer strips on the
steeper slopes. Howev
er, because of ever
present deer damage
and other problems, the
site was planted no-till
to regular buckwheat as
a cover crop.
Don’t Always Have
The diversions in place help to
control the “seep flow,” noted
Myers. The seep flow is the layer
of water that rides over the soil sur
face as it makes its way
downslope.
A combination of no-till and
buffer strips work in large part to
stem erosion on the steep hillsides
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VISTA +.04 +6B
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SLICK -.05 +7l
ALONZO +.OB +49
STEALTH +.OO +73
LEADOFF +.06 +66
BUCKLEY -.07 +49
That Erosion Repair Methods
To Come From A Book
at Ag Progress. Myers noted that
the use of a buffer strip at the end
of a field will control erosion from
the end rows.
“There are a lot of things you
can do that are not necessarily
written in the books that will
work,” Myers said, for stemming
erosion or performing repairs to
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Russ Jacques
Phone: 814-425-2562
OSCAR Sons
Milk Eat Rel.
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+ 1676 +.06 +74 82%
+2089 -.05 +65 84%
Results Through Reliability
erosion control systems.
An important conservation sys
tem .includes buffer strips, planted
on the steep parts of the slope in a
reliable grass mixture. Ag Prog
ress uses a timothy mixture,
although any grass would be
acceptable, according to Myers.
The buffer strips should be a mini
SLICK Dtr. Mor-Dale Slick Andrea Amy
PTAT
+ 1.49
+ 1.92
+ 1.61
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+2.10
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+0.72
Southeastern PA & NJ
Eldon Ford
Phone■ 717-933-5961
Direct Herd Rep.
Nelson James
Phone 6/0-562-71/7
WEST VIRGINIA
& Southcentral PA
Steve Cronin
Phone: 304-884-8172
mum of 15 feet wide.
To determine the width of the
slope, conservation technicians
use the formula of 10-20 percent of
the width of the cropland. A higher
percentage of slope width provides
better protection of soil.
Dining the tour, Myers noted
(Turn to Page A 23)
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8% CE
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MARYLAND/WV
Sales & Service Director
Kirk Sattazahn
Phone■ 717-337-3765
MD Toll Free
Technician Service
I-800-227-6417
MD Direct Herd Reps:
Franklin & York Counties, PA
Peter Bohacek
Phone: 301-371-6834
Dave Elston