History of the Great Plains Shelter Belt

[Weedygarden]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Plains_Shelterbelt
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Great Plains Shelterbelt was a project to create windbreaks in the Great Plains states of the United States, that began in 1934. President Franklin D. Roosevelt initiated the project in response to the severe dust storms of the Dust Bowl, which resulted in significant soil erosion and drought. The United States Forest Service believed that planting trees on the perimeters of farms would reduce wind velocity and lessen evaporation of moisture from the soil. By 1942, 220 million trees had been planted, covering 18,600 square miles (48,000 km2) in a 100-mile-wide zone from Canada to the Brazos River. Even as of 2007, "the federal response to the Dust Bowl, including the Prairie States Forestry Project which planted the Great Plains Shelterbelt and creation of the Soil Erosion Service, represents the largest and most-focused effort of the [U.S.] government to address an environmental problem".

History​

Map of major planting areas of the shelterbelt project
The "Number One Shelterbelt" is located in Greer County, in southwestern Oklahoma. Oklahoma's first State Forester, George R. Phillips, had the distinction of planting the very first tree in the federal program's very first shelterbelt in 1935." The first tree was an Austrian pine planted on the H.E. Curtis farm near Willow, Oklahoma, on March 18.[3]

The project called for large-scale planting of trees across the Great Plains, stretching in a 100-mile wide zone from Canada to northern Texas, to protect the land from wind erosion. Native trees, such as red cedar and green ash, were planted along fence rows separating properties, and farmers were paid to plant and cultivate them. The project was estimated to cost $75 million over 12 years. When disputes arose over funding sources (the project was considered to be a long-term strategy and therefore ineligible for emergency relief funds), FDR transferred the program to the WPA.[5]

The Great Plains Shelterbelt was allowed under the 1924 Clarke–McNary Act and was carried out by the Works Progress Administration (WPA).[2] Project headquarters were in Lincoln, Nebraska,[6] and Raphael Zon served as the technical director. The U.S. Forest Service and Civilian Conservation Corps assisted.[7] "The Shelterbelt Program of 1935–1942 ... [was] later known as the Prairie States Forestry Project."[8]

By 1942, 30,233 shelterbelts had been planted, which contained 220 million trees and covered 18,600 square miles (48,000 km2).

Restoration efforts in the 21st century​

As of 2010, "Many shelterbelts in Kansas and throughout the central Great Plains are old and are no longer providing the benefits that they used to", according to Kansas State Forester Larry Biles.[9]

As of 2004 in Nebraska,

Today, the growth and vigor of many of the trees has declined due to close spacing, age, and invasion of undesirable, short-lived trees. The Nebraska Forest Service and the Upper Elkhorn Natural Resource District, in cooperation with the Schleusener family, has established two demonstration areas within this windbreak to show methods of improving the condition of the remaining trees and to encourage new growth and establishment of desirable trees. The area closest to the roadway will remain unaltered as a living reminder of the Prairie States Forestry Project and the efforts of Nebraskans to protect our valuable farmland.[7]

In 2010, federal grants were made available for shelterbelt maintenance and restoration in Kansas, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Nebraska as part of the Central Great Plains Shelterbelt Renovation and the Central Great Plains Forested Riparian Buffer CCPI proposals.[10][11] Funding for the CCPI (Cooperative Conservation Partnership Initiative) is provided as a project of the Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service.[9]

 

[Peanut]

Trees were planted all over the south during the same time period. I think the usda ran the program here instead of the forestry service. Maclura pomifera aka Osage Orange trees were one of the species set out by the 1000’s. I still find them sometimes. This one was by my hay field.

The Osage Indians as well as other tribes used the wood to make bows. It’s still prized by bow makers today. French trappers named it “bois d'arc”.

The fruit is the size of a softball, maybe a tad larger. The trees don't get very big here. I've never seen one much over 40ft tall.

 

[Weedygarden]

Wyoming has a real problem with farming and trees. I've always thought that at least the eastern part of that state could have benefitted from shelter belts. One of my cousins owns 40 acres in Wyoming and it is so windy, any trees that he has planted haven't survived.

 

[Amish Heart]

Hey Peanut...those are what we have ALL over the place here. We call them hedge trees and the balls are hedge balls. They do drop, and the kids throw them at each other...they are baseball sized. Hedge trees grow like mad, and they are constantly thinned out, and that's what we use for firewood. Our 23 acres is bordered with these trees, and our whole road is lined with them. Farmers don't necessarily like these windbreaks because it interrupts their field. But most are good about having windbreaks. We get so much wind, it'll take away your topsoil.

 

[Weedygarden]

I have a Facebook friend, a man who lives in Kansas. Long story. He used to be editor for Mother Earth News, etc., but is retired and raises sheep and a few other things. He often talks about the Orange Osage trees. He claims that the wood is very hard. I know he burns it in his wood burning stove. I know that he has them all over his property.

 

[Weedygarden]

I know that different areas have different prescribed plants to plant. There is a particular length and width to the shelter belt. If and when one of the plants dies, people are expected to replace it.

This Seven-row shelterbelt is how they are planted in Minnesota and Wisconsin.

 

[Weedygarden]

This is from South Dakota recommendations. I know that Siberian elm and Russian olive trees are or were common in shelterbelts. When the first article that I posted talked about how these shelter belts were started in the 1930's and many have died it, it is because of the trees that were planted. Elms are crappy trees. They are easily diseased and have a short life. My grandparents planted lots of them on their lot when they moved to town. I'd bet they are all dead now.

 

[Spikedriver]

The north edge of Osage Orange habitat is about 75 miles south of me. We don't get them here but in southern Iowa and in North Missouri, most of the fences are made out of "hedgewood" aka Osage orange. Sometimes guys will go down there and get a trailer load of the straightest ones they can buy to use for corner posts because they'll last for 75 years or more before they rot.

We don't have shelterbelts, per se, around here but the north sides and sometimes the west sides of farm places either get rows of spruce or arbor vitae planted. Often the acreages will have old maples that predate the dust bowl and the farmers let those maples turn into a grove. Sometimes the groves are full of wild plum and mulberries. They can get thick enough to be nearly impassable...

 

[Pearl]

Trees were planted all over the south during the same time period. I think the usda ran the program here instead of the forestry service. Maclura pomifera aka Osage Orange trees were one of the species set out by the 1000’s. I still find them sometimes. This one was by my hay field.

The Osage Indians as well as other tribes used the wood to make bows. It’s still prized by bow makers today. French trappers named it “bois d'arc”.

The fruit is the size of a softball, maybe a tad larger. The trees don't get very big here. I've never seen one much over 40ft tall.

View attachment 101774View attachment 101775View attachment 101776

Bois d'arc trees here in Texas get huge!! The wood is sticky/gummy, messy on your chainsaw and pole saw!

 

[Pearl]

GREAT THREAD Weedy!!

 

[Supervisor42]

Trees were planted all over the south during the same time period. I think the usda ran the program here instead of the forestry service. Maclura pomifera aka Osage Orange trees were one of the species set out by the 1000’s. I still find them sometimes. This one was by my hay field.

The Osage Indians as well as other tribes used the wood to make bows. It’s still prized by bow makers today. French trappers named it “bois d'arc”.

The fruit is the size of a softball, maybe a tad larger. The trees don't get very big here. I've never seen one much over 40ft tall.

Those were called "Mock Orange" trees where I grew up.
We made crooked fence posts out of them.
If you could manage to drive a staple in it, that thing would be there for the next 50 years.

Wikipedia: The thorny Osage orange tree was widely naturalized throughout the United States until this usage was superseded by the invention of barbed wire in 1874.

And if you want to have some fun, burn some of it in an open fireplace ...
You can have sparkles in the livingroom! as it pops out sparks continuously when burning.

 

[Supervisor42]

Still going ...
The 'forever' fence post:

Outdoornebraska: The wood of this species is hard, heavy, durable, naturally rot-resistant and somewhat flexible. It has been used to make wagon wheel hubs and rims, archery bows, tool handles, musical instruments, furniture, decks and fence posts. Some Osage orange fence posts set more than 70 years ago are still standing strong!

 

[Wingnut]

Somebody had the foresight to plant many trees in this rural subdivision which dates back to 1956. Some of the original trees have died due to lack of care, but I still have 30 pines in a roughly rectangular windbreak around my home. There are a few other trees on this property too, but the pines date back to the creation of the subdivision... a few are quite large! I'm a little worried about one smaller pine, it's looking "browned out" after that hot summer and recent cold snap... I'm hoping it makes a comeback, I've been giving it extra water for that reason. Hopefully the rain that's due here shortly will give the roots a thorough soaking...

 

[Amish Heart]

Those are everyone's fenceposts around here, that photo could of been taken down the road. We only burn that wood. Sometimes it sparks, sometimes not, but it's good hard wood. I just shut the door of the woodburning stove.

 

[kd4ulw]

We call the Orange Osage fruit Hedge Apples around here.

I had never heard of that shelterbelt before, just windbreaks around farm houses.

 

[Weedygarden]

We call the Orange Osage fruit Hedge Apples around here.

I had never heard of that shelterbelt before, just windbreaks around farm houses.

When you drive around in the country of the plains states, you will frequently see shelter belts. I have heard them called windbreaks before as well. I remember seeing them more when I was a child, and I suppose that many have mostly died off.

I know that when my dad's now deceased cousin was managing around 1000 acres in South Dakota for his daughter and her husband's extended family, they planted 3 shelter belts, following the prescribed planting set by the state. Cousin watered the whole shelter belt once a week with water tanks on a trailer if there wasn't any rain or other moisture. When one of the plants did not survive, it was replanted, which is prescribed. Planting and maintaining shelter belts takes work and consistency. The state of South Dakota gave cousin an award for the best shelter belt planting and maintenance shortly before he died from cancer.

I rode around with him on this property. The dry creek bed that they damned and got the state to assist in creating a huge pond is in close proximity to the shelter belts as you can see in one photo. Some of the fields that are close are food plots for animals, to feed, sustain and to draw in deer, pheasants, and other animals. I saw deer and pheasants in those shelter belts, in June one year. That large pond has had whooping cranes, egrets, herons, ducks, geese, and many other birds there. This whole property has taken lots of work and maintenance to develop, but would be a great bug out location if needed.

All of these photos show some aspect of the shelter belt on cousin's land. You can see one or two of the older shelter belt, perhaps from around 1940, and the rest of the photos are more current.
The pond was nothing except a dry creek bed, with occasional water from storms. This part of South Dakota has few water formations and the need for water for wildlife and his efforts to do the work have created that pond that is stocked with fish.

 

[Bacpacker]

That is so cool. He put a lot of work into that

 

[Weedygarden]

That is so cool. He put a lot of work into that

When he retired, needed or wanted to do something everyday, was part of a family group, being the closest person to it, I think he was a little inspired. He lived in town, just a few miles from this property, so he could easily drive out there everyday and work on it and check up on it. His daughter's in laws would come out when they could to help, and that was probably inspirational as well. The whole development of this property from fields to the large building built for the large extended family, the pond, the 3 shelter belts, fencing, food plots, etc., was work. He loved every minute of it, and as his wife said, it really kept him going, instead of sitting at home, doing nothing. He had nice toys to work with. What I didn't share were the photos of all the people who hunted and fished there, and their trophies, children, parents, grandparents, etc. The project was well thought out, and people would participate on things like the planting of the shelter belts. I imagine they have close to 20 years of working on the whole thing, everyone contributing, a family of 4 now retired siblings with their children and grandchildren and other extended family.

 

[Buffalo]

Sadly, a lot of the shelter belts that were planted here in Nebraska are being removed. Talking with the farmers that are removing them, they site two main reasons. The first is that they have grown so densely together that as the trees die, there is no space available to plant new trees and the second, is the farmers need to plant as much of their ground as they can.

Just this weekend as we were driving back west from a trip into Omaha, there was quite the haze just east of Lincoln. Someone has torn a large section of shelter belt out and were burning several slash piles right along the interstate. I doubt they will be replanting them with trees, but who knows, perhaps they will.

At our homestead in western Kansas, we are trying to replicate the shelter belt concept as best as we can. Last spring we planted over 300 seedlings into a tree nursery. Our hope was to grow these little seedlings into saplings and then transplant them. Unfortunately, we lost our well pump at the beginning of June, so our drip irrigation system was out of commission for at least two weeks (we are not sure when the well pump decided to detach from the standpipe and burn itself out, then we discovered it and it was another week before I was able to source a replacement pump and make the 4 hour drive down to replace it.). Those two weeks without daily watering really took it's toll on our trees, both in the nursery and our orchard. Add in the extreme drought we had this year and our tree nursery only has about a dozen of the original 300ish seedlings still alive.

I am a firm believer that a lot of the old ways are better ways. Shelter belts are just one of them. Crop rotation has pretty much ended here in the Great Plains. Growing up we used to see farmers plant soybeans, then corn, then rye, oats, alfalfa or milo and then leave the field fallow a year. Now, it's corn and soybeans every year. The ag industry just dumps tons of anhydrous ammonia on the fields to make up for the loss of nitrogen. Eventually, this is going to cause anothe dust bowl. We can't keep abusing the land without the paying the piper for it. Add in the loss of the shelter belts and we are going to be in serious trouble.

Mama tilling the tree nursery before we planted:

Our oldest sinking a post to mount the drip irrigation controls to:

After a long, hard day of planting seedlings, here we are mulching them in:

 

[Weedygarden]

Sadly, a lot of the shelter belts that were planted here in Nebraska are being removed. Talking with the farmers that are removing them, they site two main reasons. The first is that they have grown so densely together that as the trees die, there is no space available to plant new trees and the second, is the farmers need to plant as much of their ground as they can.

Just this weekend as we were driving back west from a trip into Omaha, there was quite the haze just east of Lincoln. Someone has torn a large section of shelter belt out and were burning several slash piles right along the interstate. I doubt they will be replanting them with trees, but who knows, perhaps they will.

At our homestead in western Kansas, we are trying to replicate the shelter belt concept as best as we can. Last spring we planted over 300 seedlings into a tree nursery. Our hope was to grow these little seedlings into saplings and then transplant them. Unfortunately, we lost our well pump at the beginning of June, so our drip irrigation system was out of commission for at least two weeks (we are not sure when the well pump decided to detach from the standpipe and burn itself out, then we discovered it and it was another week before I was able to source a replacement pump and make the 4 hour drive down to replace it.). Those two weeks without daily watering really took it's toll on our trees, both in the nursery and our orchard. Add in the extreme drought we had this year and our tree nursery only has about a dozen of the original 300ish seedlings still alive.

I am a firm believer that a lot of the old ways are better ways. Shelter belts are just one of them. Crop rotation has pretty much ended here in the Great Plains. Growing up we used to see farmers plant soybeans, then corn, then rye, oats, alfalfa or milo and then leave the field fallow a year. Now, it's corn and soybeans every year. The ag industry just dumps tons of anhydrous ammonia on the fields to make up for the loss of nitrogen. Eventually, this is going to cause anothe dust bowl. We can't keep abusing the land without the paying the piper for it. Add in the loss of the shelter belts and we are going to be in serious trouble.

Mama tilling the tree nursery before we planted:

Our oldest sinking a post to mount the drip irrigation controls to:
View attachment 101886
After a long, hard day of planting seedlings, here we are mulching them in:
View attachment 101885

Relative to fertilizers, as opposed to crop rotation, it is something I have wondered about. I wonder how our soils are being depleted by over planting, and if crop rotation would be better for our soils in the long run.

 

[Bacpacker]

There is no doubt crop rotation is much better for soils. Natural fertilizers such as manures and green manures are much better over time. But don't pack an immediate punch like chemical ferts

 

[Buffalo]

Relative to fertilizer, as opposed to crop rotation, it is something I have wondered about. I wonder how our soils are being depleted by over planting, and if crop rotation would be better for our soils in the long run.

I'm sure that it would be better for the soil, not to mention off-setting the energy and resources it takes to create the chemical fertilizers. Granted, this is at the cost of the overall yield of the fields. Here in our county, the average farmer is getting right around 270 bushels of corn per acre. Twenty years ago, it was 190. Farmers have figured out how to get more production out of their fields, but I am guessing they are probably making the same amount of income as they were 20 years ago, when you figure in the cost of equipment and chemical fertilizers.

Sorry, didn't mean to derail the thread on shelter belts!

 

[Weedygarden]

Sorry, didn't mean to derail the thread on shelter belts!

I'm not concerned about it, but some people are.

 

[Bacpacker]

IMO still pertains to a portion of the need for the shelterbelts

 

[Weedygarden]

IMO still pertains to a portion of the need for the shelterbelts

I agree