EFFECTS OF CULTIVATION AND GRASS ON SURFACE RUNOFF

Results of research show the effect of drastic changes in land use on surface runoff from 4‐acre watersheds near Hastings, Nebraska. Surface runoff was significantly reduced two years after converting marginal cultivated fields to perennial grass and was equivalent to runoff from native meadow after the third year. Conversely runoff increased greatly the first year after native meadow was placed in cultivation. The significance of these results is evident in the conversion of more than a million acres of marginal cropland to permanent vegetation in the Great Plains and in the proposed conversion of many more acres. Copyright 1969 by the American Geophysical Union.