SWALES built in the US in the 30's

[Pakanohida]

Nate, there are swales still functioning today all over the Midwestern US that were put in place after the terrible droughts and windstorms of the 1930's blew away the topsoil. The Civilian Conservation Corp (CCC) was organized by President Roosevelt to build the swales to try to get the farmers back in business. I think we've taken them for granted for all these years, but now that the weather is changing a lot more interest will be generated.

Only problem is with those same swales, the USDA has stopped encouraging farmers to plow with the slope of the soil thus screwing the whole system up. All you have to do is fly cross country once and notice how the plow lines are now all screwed up, which is not how things were prior to WW2.

[andrew curr]

G'day Allmost all the swales you saw are drains ie compacted banks with fall designed into them
the more modern ones are flatter (plough over) design
they are somewhat effective if WELL designed,the problem being the large volume of water concentrated in a small area
the best thing they do is to get the tractors to drive in the right direction (almost on contour)
Most date back to the 50s the soil conservation service used to promote such activity
proper swales have a lot of potential in these environs or these drainage banks could be converted quite easily
A few months ago, whilst driving east along the Gwydir HWY (NSW, Australia), I was taken by the amount of swaling that was visibly taking place in the roadside paddocks. Some appeared to be very fresh, while others appeared to be much older. At the time I had my lap top with me, and when I later pulled up at Gravesend (for fuel and to checkout the old railway station retro-fitted into a radio station) I decided to jump onto Google Maps and have a look. What I saw astounded me. For hundreds of kilometres, farmers everywhere had been swaling. Some of the older ones have been furrowed and cropped over by later seasons of 'straight-line' plowing, but the old swales are still visible. The newer ones appear to be well maintained. For anyone who might be interested in having a look , start at Moree (NSW), where the Gwydir HWY meets the Newell HWY, and track your way east using Google maps with the scale bar set to 500m/1000ft.

If anyone knows anything of the history of swaling in this area - when did it first start, how efficient is it, why have some stopped? - I'd be very interested to know, and I think we could all probably learn a great deal from this area of intense swaling. I note 'barely run' (Cathy) is from Glen Innes (NSW), perhaps she can shed some light on the subject?

Google searches uncover many different applications for swales in this area - agricultural, urban, stormwater retention, flood mitigation, revegetation works - but the results of my searching thus far are thin when it comes to the efficacy of swales, and if we are going to promote swales as a positive practice when it comes to permaculture projects (particularly on the larger scale), we need to have evidence. Obviously I will keep up with the research from my end (early days yet), but would be very intrested to learn, maybe even first hand from someone who is actually swaling in this area.

G'day G

Welcome to the PRI Forum.

Congratulations on uncovering the the old art (and science) of swaling in your district, hopefully you can convince the farmers as to the benefits of swales and Keyline plowing. Concerning Keyline, I presume you have read everything by its founder P.A. Yeomans? If not, his books should (hopefully) be available at larger libraries. Try searching for Keyline Plan (1954), Challenge of Landscape (195 and Water for Every Farm (196. Good luck with it, and don't forget to let us know how you get on. Further concerning Keyline: Darren Doherty (see: http://www.permaculture.biz/education/c ... tegoryID=2) runs a Keyline course, but has nothing scheduled at the moment. Darren is currently in the USA however, running a Carbon Farming course across California. Maybe you can catch up with him sometime in the near future?

Cheerio, Mark.

good luck

[ecodharmamark]

G'day Andrew

It would appear that you joined the PRI Forum well after I submitted that post. However, next time I'm up your way, I'll certainly do my best to drop in.

Cheerio, and good luck to you, too.

Markos

[Curramore1]

Hello ecodharmamark,
around here we Banana Bender Aussies call them "pondages". A swale was a term used in my youth for the dune behind a beach for-dune. There are plenty in Qld especially west and North west of Rockhampton on a very large scale. Some 5-10 km long, holding back moisture for kilometres. They are also used to direct water into storages in heavy rainfall events. My late Father built some around the Dulacca area in the 1940's with horses and mouldboard ploughs and dam scoops. He grew sorghums and millets in summer in the resultant pondage. I know of plenty that have been functional for over 30 years in grazing areas where there is a marked summer/autumn wet and winter/spring dry season on gently sloping country. Plenty of Keyline drained farms here as well. One of my surveyor brothers was involved on a large scale in western Queensland in the early '70's. I still use my modified yeoman's on an annual basis. I have a 3 tine and a 5 tine that I hire out also. The main problem is that pondages only work if you have rain. After many years of drought the vegetation dies off them and when it does rain, and then heavily they can easily be eroded. They cost money to build and maintain.
Are you sure that what you saw were not good old fashioned 1 degree fall contour banks, designed to slow the flow of water off slopes and direct the water to grassed waterways to minimise soil erosion? These contour banks have been used for over 50 years by farmers all over Australia. They came about after the second world war when heavy earth moving machinery became widely available, but were largely done in the 60's and 70's with the aid of tax deductability of soil conservation measures and relatively cheaper fuel prices.

[Michaelangelica]

Swales: The Permaculture Element That Really “Holds Water”
http://permaculture.org.au/2012/05/1...y-holds-water/