Abstract
Most authorities concede sediment from soil erosion to be the largest single stream pollutant. Physical damage from sediment includes reservoir storage loss, navigation channel filling, stream channel morphology alterations, ecological impacts, and clogging of drainage pathways. Ultimately, soil erosion is a very expensive problem. In the United States, accelerated soil erosion has been an ongoing issue since the establishment of the colonies. Through the initiative of great minds and the labor of countless individuals, the USDA was established and continues to fight for the people, providing assistance, guidance, and research. In this manuscript, the historical groundwork is laid for the establishment of the USDA-ARS National Sedimentation Laboratory (NSL) and a synopsis of NSL research is provided. This brief perspective of soil erosion research conducted on behalf of the people is but a small portion of the illustrious history of the USDA.
Highlights
“to acquire and diffuse among the people of the United States useful information on subjects connected with agriculture in the most general and comprehensive sense of that word, and to procure, propagate, and distribute among the people new and valuable seeds and plants.” (Lincoln, 1862)
The laboratory is further charged with communicating its findings through various scientific and technical publications, from which the research information generated is put to use by operational agencies concerned with soil erosion and sedimentation, such as the United State Department of Agriculture (USDA) Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS)
The National Sedimentation Laboratory (NSL) is the custodian of three computer-based models—The Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE; [108]), which is a computer program that initiates rates of soil erosion caused by rainfall and overland flow on upland areas; the Agricultural Non-Point Source Pollution (AGNPS; http://go.usa.gov/KFO; [109]) model, a computer model that predicts non-point source pollutant loadings within agricultural watersheds and includes erosion and sediment transport of the stream system; and the Conservation Channel Evolution and Pollutant Transport System (CONCEPTS; http://www.ars.usda.gov/Research/docs.htm?docid=5453; [110]-[112]), a process-based computer model of instream and riparian processes that includes the effect of sediment generation due to channel bed changes and modifications
Summary
Instead, coming shortly after the great Mississippi flood of 1927, Bennett and Chapline’s bulletin emphasized only the damages caused by erosion and the need for action to stop erosion Owing to this growing concern over soil erosion, in 1928, two instrumental pieces of legislation were passed: McSweeneyMcNary Forest Research Act (authorized research on erosion prevention) and Buchannan Amendment (funds were appropriated for soil erosion investigations and regional soil erosion experiment stations). The laboratory is charged with seeking, through fundamental and applied research, for better methods of a) improving soil and water quality; b) controlling erosion and sedimentation; and c) conserving and managing agricultural land and water resources. The laboratory is further charged with communicating its findings through various scientific and technical publications, from which the research information generated is put to use by operational agencies concerned with soil erosion and sedimentation, such as the USDA NRCS.
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