Conservation Practices

Water and Sediment Control Basin (WASCOB)

 

A water and sediment control basin (WASCOB) is an earth embankment or combination ridge and channel constructed across the slope of minor water courses to form a sediment trap and water detention basin. The purpose of this practice is to improve farming, reduce erosion, trap sediment and reduce and manage runoff.

 

Grass Waterway

 

A grassed waterway is a native grassland strip usually 30-60 feet wide.

It is generally installed in the thalweg, the deepest continuous line along a valley or watercourse, of a cultivated dry valley in order to control erosion.

 

Quail Field Buffer

Habitat buffers for upland birds are strips of vegetation established around the edges of crop fields to provide habitat for bobwhite quail, ring-neck pheasant, and other upland birds. Many of these birds have suffered population declines due to loss of habitat. These buffers can provide important nesting, brood rearing and escape cover while also serving as travel corridors between areas of suitable habitat. In addition to habitat for upland birds, these buffers may provide habitat for other animals and may limit sediment, nutrients, pesticides and other contaminants from entering streams and other water bodies.

 

Pollinator Plots

A pollinator plot is designed to produce plants that pollinators can feed on and then spread their pollen around to help the plants grow.

Bees and monarchs are two of the most popular pollinators, but there are thousands of pollinator species that benefit from these practices.

 

Grade Stabilization Structure (Toe Wall)

Grade Stabilization Structure: An earthen, concrete or other structure built across a drainageway to prevent gully erosion. A dam or embankment built across a gully or grass waterway drops water to a lower elevation while protecting the soil from gully erosion or scouring.

 

Filter Strip

A filter strip is a strip of gently sloping grass or other stable vegetation strategically planted between streams, rivers, ponds, lakes, storm, drains and sinkholes. These strips are designed as a barrier to remove sediment, organic materials, nutrients, pesticides, and other pollutants carried in agricultural runoff water. The filter strip works by slowing water flow and allowing the pollutant or sediment to settle before it gets to the water. Larger sediment particles of sand and silt are removed first, while smaller particles such as clay take longer to settle and can still get through.

 

Lined Waterway Outlets

 

 

 

 

 

 

A waterway or outlet with a lining of concrete, stone, or other permanent material. The lined section extends up the side slopes to the designed depth. The earth above the permanent lining may be vegetated or otherwise protected. The purpose is to provide for the disposal of concentrated runoff.

 

Rock Chute

A rock chute spillway is a structure that allows for the safe flow of surface water in an outlet. This type of spillway helps stabilize banks by preventing retrogressive erosion of the bottom of waterways (furrows and ditches) and the formation of erosional gullies in fields.

 

Cover Crops

A cover crop is a crop planted primarily to manage soil erosion, soil fertility, soil quality, water, weeds, pests, diseases, biodiversity and wildlife in an agroecosystem, an ecological system managed and largely shaped by humans across a range of intensities to produce food, feed, or fiber.

 

Water Level Control Structure

Water control structures are being used for Natural Resource Management (NRM) purposes in

irrigation, drainage and natural waterway systems to manipulate the flow of water within the system

with a view to improving the surrounding environment. These structures are used to manage the

hydrological regime by modifying the direction or rate of flow of water, and / or to maintain a

desired water surface elevation.