A new look at windbreaks in Oklahoma

Excerpt

INDBREAK removal in Oklahoma has received much attention in recent years. It is often assumed in articles on the subject that all windbreak removals are bad and that Oklahoma is rapidly losing important soil erosion protection in the process. Often ignored is the progress being made in planting new windbreaks.

For one thing, not all removals have been bad. Many windbreaks planted in the 1930s and 1940s, particularly those planted on fine-textured soils, were killed by drought during the 1950s and 1960s. These windbreaks had become ineffective and were eyesores on the landscape.

Actually, many of the windbreaks that have been removed were ineffective from the beginning, for two reasons. First, they were planted on soils with little susceptibility to wind erosion. Second, the trees were not tall enough to protect a significant number of acres relative to the area occupied by the windbreak.

The standard width was 10 rows for windbreaks planted under the Prairie States Project from 1935 to 1942. This width meant that a half-mile-long windbreak occupied at least 7 acres. Assuming …