Excerpt
Edge-of-field water control structures known as drop pipes are widely employed conservation practices used to control gully erosion along incised streams in northwestern Mississippi (Shields et al. 2002). These structures consist of earthen embankments placed across eroding riparian gullies and use corrugated metal standpipes to provide drainage from field to stream level. The incidental wildlife habitat benefits associated with these structures have been highlighted previously by Shields et al. (2002). Increased ecological benefits occur when the installation design allows for the establishment of permanent pools upstream of the pipe inlet and development of woody vegetation around the pool margins. These structures are not just creating isolated habitat patches, but instead are reconnecting riparian corridors fragmented by gully erosion.
The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), the US Army Corps of Engineers, and other action agencies often support installation of these structures on a cost share basis in Mississippi and other parts of the United States.
Kevin Nelms, wildlife biologist with the USDA NRCS office in Greenwood, Mississippi, recently noted incorporation of habitat features in the installation design of several drop pipes in the Mississippi Delta: “We try to shape the basin to hold at least a semi …
Footnotes
F. Douglas Shields Jr. is a research hydraulic engineer and Charles. M. Cooper is an ecologist at the national sedimentation laboratory, usda Agricultural Research Service (ARS), Oxford, Mississippi. Peter C. Smiley Jr. is an ecologist at the soil drainage research unit, USDA ARS, Columbus, Ohio.
- Copyright 2007 by the Soil and Water Conservation Society
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