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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Tifton, Georgia » Southeast Watershed Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #187793
Title: LANDSCAPE MANAGEMENT

Author
item Lowrance, Robert
item ISENHART, THOMAS - IOWA STATE UNIV
item Gburek, William
item Shields Jr, Fletcher
item WIGINGTON, JR., PARKER - USEPA
item Dabney, Seth

Submitted to: Journal of Soil and Water Conservation Society
Publication Type: Book / Chapter
Publication Acceptance Date: 12/6/2006
Publication Date: 12/15/2006
Citation: Lowrance, R.R., Isenhart, T.M., Gburek, W., Shields Jr, F.D., Wigington, Jr., P.J., Dabney, S.M. 2006. Environmental Benefits of Conservation on Cropland: The Status of Our Knwoledge. Landscape management. Ankeny, IA: Soil and Water Conservation Society. 326 p.

Interpretive Summary: USDA Conservation Practices are applied on farms and ranches to protect the soil, water, and air. The Conservation Effects Assessment Project is a joint effort of USDA Conservation and Research agencies to determine the effectiveness of all of the conservation practices currently used. USDA asked the Soil and Water Conservation Society to assemble a group of technical specialists to determine how well different conservation practices worked and how they improved water quality, water quantity, soil quality, and air quality. Landscape management practices are conservation practices that farmers and ranchers can use outside the field area. Landscape management practices are generally the practices which change the amount and placement of agricultural land within farms and agricultural landscapes. These practices include Tree-Shrub Establishment; Windbreaks, Riparian Forest Buffer, Riparian Herbaceous Cover, Wetland Creation, Wetland Restoration, Wetland Enhancement, Constructed Wetlands, Channel Bank Vegetation, Streambank Protection, Channel Stabilization, Use Exclusion, Pond, Dam, Sediment Basin, and numerous wildlife practices. We summarized the existing literature on the effects of these practices and developed a set of guidelines that can be used to assess whether conservation practices will contribute to sustainable agricultural landscapes.

Technical Abstract: USDA Conservation Practices are applied at various scales ranging from a portion of a field or a specific farm operation to the watershed or landscape scale. The Conservation Effects Assessment Project is a joint effort of USDA Conservation and Research agencies to determine the effectiveness of implemented practices. To provide the best possible scientific understanding of the effects of conservation practices, USDA commissioned the Soil and Water Conservation Society to assess the state of knowledge of the effects of conservation practices on water quality, water quantity, soil quality, and air quality. One suite of practices is the landscape management practices which are generally practices applied outside the field area. Landscape management practices are generally the practices which change the amount and placement of agricultural land within farms and agricultural landscapes. These practices include Tree-Shrub Establishment; Windbreaks, Riparian Forest Buffer, Riparian Herbaceous Cover, Wetland Creation, Wetland Restoration, Wetland Enhancement, Constructed Wetlands, Channel Bank Vegetation, Streambank Protection, Channel Stabilization, Use Exclusion, Pond, Dam, Sediment Basin, and numerous wildlife practices. We summarized the existing literature on the effects of these practices and developed a set of principles that should be used to assess whether conservation practices will contribute to sustainable agricultural landscapes.