Soil conservation in the Coon Creek Basin, Wisconsin

Stanley W. Trimble; Steven W. Lund

ABSTRACT:

Wisconsin's Coon Creek Basin, like most of the Driftless Area in the upper Midwest, was strikingly transformed by the use of soil conservation measures after the 1930s. Erosion and sedimentation rates declined significantly. Estimated upland erosion rates in 1975 were about one-fourth those in 1934, while measured sedimentation rates in recent years were 1 to 2 percent of those in the 1930s. Erosion and sedimentation were functions of erosive land use, a composite index of land use and land treatment, but both erosion and sedimentation demonstrated a time lag in their relationship with erosive land use. Climatic change did not appear to be a casual factor for the observed trends in erosion and sedimentation.

Footnotes

Stanley W. Trimble is an associate professor of Geography. UCLA, Los Angeles, California 90024, and a hydrologist with the U.S. Geological Survey. Steven W. Lund is an environmental analyst with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Wilmington, North Carolina. This study was supported by the Water Resources Division, U.S. Geological Survey; UCLA Faculty Senate; University of California Regents; and Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. We thank F. W. Trainer, R. F. Hadley, R. J. Janda, K. M. Nolan, Kevin Scott, S. C. Happ, R. S. Sartz, G. R. Foster, and R. H. Renwickfor reviewing this work in various stages; we also thank S. C. Happ for logistical assistance and the many students who gave field assistance.
Copyright 1982 by the Soil and Water Conservation Society

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