The New Dust Bowl Era (buy, subdivisions, living)

[sagebrushsolomon]

A recent show on Public Radio:

Talked about the drought of the 1930's and how land loss and erosion was magnified by the "suitcase" farmer. Those were the folks that were taking advantage of high grain prices and plowing/tilling any piece of land they could rent, buy or just use.

They pointed out that we have a new culprit disturbing soil in our fragile arid west at almost the same rate and area.

This would be subdivisions with dirt roads and those that are living on the 1 to 40 acre tracks. Often times these small parcels are portioned out of what used to be a large ranch. They become overgrazed and degraded in a surprisingly short period of time. There is no collective sense of what the land can bear.

In the last few years I have witnessed dust storms filtering up and off of areas that are heavily subdivided and it really hadn't occured to me what caused them.

Any thoughts? Comments?

[msdmckee]

Interesting thought. What I have noticed is that many of the tree/shrub planting efforts during the 30's & 40's (windbreaks, hedgerows, cottonwood groves) are starting to die off. Not much is being done to replace them either.

[WyoMama]

They meteorologists already said that we have been (Wyo) in a draught worse than the dust bowl drought of the 1930's. And yep - the whole USA has the same problem mentiond above. And DOUBT is just USA..what about the destruction of mangroves worldwide *400 sq. miles a day destroyed* and what it is doing to the environment & eating away the lands? Ahhhh progress......

[sagebrushsolomon]

I remember a friend telling of a massive dust storm moving in from the sea when they were in Italy.......the dirt originated in Africa. You are right, Ahhh, progress! Helped me define the phrase "Think globally, act locally."

Wyoming legislature is tusseling with the problem of development. See
subdivision law zoning (http://www.wyofile.com/subdivision_law_zoning.htm - broken link) for more insight.