CHAPTER XXV 

 THE PLAINS SHELTERBELT PROJECT 



President Roosevelt announced this project as a drought-relief 

 measure in June, 1934, and it was started by the Government on July 

 21. Headquarters were established at Lincoln, Nebraska, and the 

 work is under the U. S. Forest Service. The first plantings were made 

 about the middle of March, 1935, in Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas. 

 Planting started in Nebraska, early in April and was continued north- 

 ward as the spring season advanced. The long-continued and very 

 serious drought of 1934, following a most severe winter season, caused 

 intense suffering among the people and enormous losses of crops and 

 cattle throughout the Great Plains region. A state director has been 

 appointed for each state with headquarters at Manhattan, Kansas; 

 Bottineau, North Dakota; Oklahoma City. Oklahoma; Brookings, 

 South Dakota; Lincoln, Nebraska; and Wichita Falls, Texas. 



Objectives. The principal objective of this project is to establish 

 and maintain shelterbelts in a zone about 100 miles wide, extending 

 from Canada to the Panhandle of Texas along the eastern margin 

 of the Great Plains region. A shelterbelt is a dense plantation of 

 trees about 100 to 165 feet wide and of various lengths located to pro- 

 vide the maximum protection from prevailing winds. Relief is to be 

 furnished the people of this region by the employment of residents who 

 otherwise have little, if any, cash incomes, and the disbursement of 

 necessary funds for the purchase or lease of lands and supplies. The 

 shelterbelts will provide windbreaks, snowtraps, sandtraps, and shade 

 in a region where trees are generally absent. The trees will mitigate 

 the effects of future drought by preventing quick drying and subse- 

 quent blowing of soils. They will protect growing crops from exces- 

 sive drying and may modify the extremes of temperature as trees and 

 all forms of plant life cool the atmosphere during the growing season. 

 The living conditions for man, beast, bird, and vegetation will be im- 

 proved. Altogether, the project should be beneficial to the region in 

 which the planting is done. 



The people who settled the prairies fully understood the value of 

 trees. They came from parts of the country in which trees grew 



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