Urban erosion control: The conservation district role in Wisconsin

Excerpt

CONSERVATION districts, long at the forefront of efforts in Wisconsin to control soil erosion on agricultural lands, are now focusing more of their technical resources on erosion problems in areas undergoing residential, commercial, and industrial development. If trends in other states hold true for Wisconsin as well, the state's conservation districts should assume a key role in urban erosion control programs.

A formidable challenge

Certain facts quickly illustrate the magnitude of urban erosion problems:

• Construction of homes, highways, shopping centers, schools, and businesses consumes 8,000 acres of the nation's undeveloped land daily (1).

• Urban development within Wisconsin's seven southeastern counties is projected to increase 22 percent between 1970 and 2000; 34 of the area's 100 lakes (and a significant number of streams) will not be “fishable and swimmable” by the end of the century if erosion from construction sites is not controlled (5).

• Areas undergoing urban development generate 20 times more sediment per unit area than is generated on cropland in the same watershed (3).

• Soil loss rates can approach 200 tons per acre per year on construction sites (2).

• Water that transports eroded …