COLUMBUS, OH -- The Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) celebrated the 25th anniversary of its Northwest Ohio Field Windbreak Program this spring by planting a record 104 miles of trees to protect farmland soil from erosion.
A total of 61 field windbreaks (rows of trees and other vegetation that slow wind velocities on farm fields in order to reduce soil erosion) were planted in nine northwestern Ohio counties -- the largest such planting in the program's 25-year history.
A total of 54,000 seedlings, including hardwood trees, conifers and shrubs, were planted in Allen, Defiance, Fulton, Henry, Paulding, Putnam, Van Wert, Williams and Wood counties.
Since 1977, more than 700 row miles of windbreaks have been planted as part of the program, which is open to landowners in a total of 17 Ohio counties where soil erosion from wind is a special problem. Landowners participate in the program voluntarily.
"Thanks to public/private partnerships spanning a quarter-century, the Northwest Ohio Field Windbreak Program has successfully reduced soil erosion, protected crops from wind damage and enhanced wildlife habitat in some of America's most productive farmland," said Ron Abraham, chief of ODNR's Division of Forestry, which coordinates the program.
Agencies cooperating in the program include the local soil & water conservation districts, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resource Conservation Service and Farm Service Agency, Pheasants Forever, and ODNR's divisions of forestry, soil & water conservation and wildlife.
Among the species planted in the Northwest Ohio Windbreaks Program this spring were arborvitae, white pine, Norway spruce, Austrian pine, pin oak, English oak, silky dogwood, black chokeberry, European black alder, American cranberry bush, blackhaw, American plum and Sargent crabapple.
Abraham said that most of this spring's record-setting planting was due to participation in the Lake Erie Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP), along tributary streams in northwest Ohio.
Announced last April by Governor Bob Taft, the $201,000,000 conservation partnership between the State of Ohio and the U.S. Department of Agriculture will protect Lake Erie and 5,000 miles of Ohio streams by reducing soil erosion and runoff pollution in the lake's northwest Ohio watersheds.
The federal/state program pays farmers and other landowners to plant trees and establish conservation buffers along tributary streams in 27 northwest Ohio counties.
For more information on the Northwest Ohio Field Windbreak Program, contact Gregg Maxfield, ODNR Division of Forestry at (419) 424-5004; or check the ODNR web site at www.dnr.state.oh.us