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Common Conservation Practices

Erosion Control:

May contain: soil, ground, land, nature, and outdoors
Example of a newly constructed WASCB
  • WASCB (we say "WAHS-COB") or Water And Sediment Control Basin.
    • Though it looks like just a mound of dirt, we can assure you it's much more. WASCBs are used to control gully erosion, by constructing a mound of earth across the slope of a watercourse to form a sediment trap and water retention basin.  Typically built to hold a 10 year rain event, these basins are designed to drain all of that water within 24 hours.
  • Grassed Waterway
    • This is eaxactly what it says, a non-cropped area, specifically designed for water to flow through erosion-free. Waterways are typically for eroison areas with large watersheds, larger than can be held in a WASCB. As opposed to holding and slowly draining water, grassed wayerways collect the storm as it comes and deposits it in the appropriate area. 
May contain: outdoors, aerial view, architecture, building, housing, house, driveway, and nature
Newly constructed Grassed Waterway

Soil Health & Farming:

  • Cover Crops
    • Whether in the fall or spring, cover crops are a great practice for anyone interest in the health, infiltration, and retention of their soils. Used for a variety of different purposes, cover crops are a great addition to any rotation!
  • No-Till
    • A practice with real benefits to the soil, hydrology, and wildlife, no-till is a sustainible farming technique all about managing residue. No-till is used to reduce energy use, build and hold organic matter, reduce sheete and rill erosion, increase infiltration many many others.
  • Strip-Till
    • Much like No-Till, Strips till is only tilling and planting into the soil in long strips, roughly 6-10 inches apart, leaving the space in between untouched. Strip tilling can reduce erosion, improve soil health, break up compactions, improve infiltration, and improve soil warming. 
A tractor in a field with rows of freshly planted crops.
Strip planting  into cover crops. Photo by www.covercropstrategies.com