CRS-58 



converted to agricultural uses by draining wetlands. 41 / Drainage has also 

 been a common practice in the upper Great Plains where prairie potholes are 

 located. 



Draining can have permanent effects on wetlands, and it may be diffi- 

 cult to return drained soil to a productive wet condition. After wetlands are 

 drained, soil becomes compacted. On the "super farms" of coastal North Caro- 

 lina, the experience has been that after being drained the soil's natural 

 productive capabilities deteriorate rapidly drained due to compaction and 

 oxidation. 42 / When this happens, their value for crops becomes limited. Con- 

 sidering the expense of diking and draining, this use may not offer a good 

 return on the investment. Other agricultural problems that accompany drainage 

 include poor plant-soil-molsture-air relationships, excess wetness, difficult 

 cultivation, lack of available nutrients for certain crops, land subsidence, 

 and acidity. 43/ At the 370,000 acre Old Colony Farm in coastal North Carolina, 

 100 pounds of nitrogen, 1,000 pounds of phosphorous and 6,000 pounds of lime 

 are added to each acre each year. 44 / These chemicals further alter these 

 soils from their wetland condition making even more difficult any effort to 

 return the area to productive wetlands. Diking or draining, like dredging, 



41 / Pugh, Mary Joan M. Superfarms and the Coastal Environment: an 

 Indepth Look at a Large-Scale Problem. In Carolina Planning Journal, v. 2, 

 no. 2. Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina, Department of Regional 

 Planning, 1976. p. 9-16. 



42 / Zinn, Jeffrey A. Agriculture and Coastal Fisheries: Future Trends. 

 In Coastal Zone 78, v. IV. New York, American Society of Civil Engineers, 

 1978. p. 2704. 



43/ DIderiksen, R. I., A. R. Hidlebaugh, and K. 0. Schmude. Trends 

 in Agricultural Land Use. In Max Schnepf , ed. Farmland, Food and the Future. 

 Ankeny, Iowa, Soil Conservation Society of America, 1979. p. 16. 



44/ Pugh, Superfarms and the Coastal Environment, p. 14. 



