Erosion Decreased, Then Hits Plateau in 1995, Report Shows

WASHINGTON, September 10, 1998--Total erosion on American cropland decreased by 42 percent from 1982 to 1995, dropping from 3.4 billion tons in 1982 to 2 billion tons in 1995, but has remained unchanged since then, according to a special study by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS).

"We did this special study to monitor the impacts the 1996 Farm Bill had on conservation," said Pearlie S. Reed, Chief of NRCS. "Despite the large gains since 1982, we found that progress in erosion reduction has remained flat since 1995."

Other highlights from the "1997 State of the Land Update" include:

• The rate of erosion decreased by 35 percent, from 8 tons of soil loss per acre per year in 1982, to 5.2 tons of soil loss per acre per year in 1997.
• 1.1 million acres of cropland were taken out of production between 1995 and 1997. This land was converted to other uses such as pastureland and some urban development.
• The average quality of the land converted to cropland between 1995 and 1997 was generally lower, with a steeper slope and more erodibility, than the average quality of the land already being used for cropland.
• In just one year, wind erosion control buffers increased by more than 15 percent. There were 320,900 acres of these buffers in use in 1997 æ a 48,700-acre increase over the amount of wind erosion control buffers in 1996.

The special report provides data taken from 6,000 sampling sites across the country, supplemented by data collected in 1995 and 1996. It gives information on changes in erosion, cropland use, and conservation practices and is statistically reliable for national analysis. NRCS collected the data through aerial photography and the examination of the historical record of the land.

The full 1997 National Resources Inventory (NRI) report, which will be released next year, after the statistical analysis is completed, covers 800,000 sample points and 170 data elements. Every five years, NRCS conducts the NRI to provide a progress report of the land on national, state, and local watersheds, or other substate levels. This report offers landowners, legislators, and policymakers a record of the accomplishments that have been made in conservation as well as the problems that still exist.

The complete "1997 State of the Land Update" can be found on the Internet through the NRCS Home Page at http://www.nrcs.usda.gov. The report is also available by contacting the director of the Resources Inventory Division of NRCS at:

USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service
Director
Resources Inventory Division
P.O. Box 2890
Washington, D.C. 20013

(202) 720-1881

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