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THE SOIL CONSERVATION SERVICE 



There is an intimate relationship between soil cover and the like- 

 lihood of erosion. This means that forest, farm, and pasture lands are 

 included within the general purview of the Service. 



About 100,000,000 acres of the most fertile lands of the nation have 

 been rendered essentially worthless by being stripped of their top soil 

 by sheet erosion and by gullies. Approximately 75% of all the farm 

 lands of the United States are located on slopes subject to erosion. 

 The last stages of the erosion processes usually assume the form of 



FIG. 126. Civilian Conservation Corps boys planting trees on erosive slopes on 



Soil Conservation Service project in West Virginia. Trees not only keep these 



lands from erosion, but protect the lower, rich valleys from burial by poor soils. 



Photograph by Soil Conservation Service. 



gullying. It is estimated that in addition to the 100,000,000 acres of 

 formerly cultivated lands that have been practically ruined, an addi- 

 tional area of about 125.000,000 acres still in cultivation has lost all 

 or a large portion of its top soil, and a further area of 100,000,000 acres 

 of crop land is threatened in the future. There is abundant evi- 

 dence that the problem of soil erosion is one of profound economic 

 importance in many sections of the country. Hundreds of millions of 

 dollars' damage are caused annually through direct depletion or de- 

 struction of fields and pastures; the silting of rivers, stream channels, 

 and ditches; damage to highway and railway fills and embankments; 



