UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE DIVISION OF PUBLIC DOCUMENTS WASHINGTON, D. C. 20401 OFFICIAL BUSINESS PENALTY FOR PRIVATE USE, $300 POSTAGE AND FEES PAID U. S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE If your address changes, please notify us of your complete new address, including Zip Code number, and include old address with our code number as shown above. animals. It is 8 feet deep; the bottom measures 20 x 60 feet. The Scales say that, even though their lagoon is new and not yet operating at full efficiency, offensive odors on their feedlots have been markedly reduced. And having the lagoon has reduced the time required to clean the barns and feedlots. The swine enterprise on the Scales' farm has been improved and refined considerably over the years. Better feeding and better breeding were two changes that were made early Scales stated that after a few years of attempting to expand his hog operation it became clear that he needed to shift his efforts toward modernization and automation. Late in 1962, with financial help from the Farmers Home Administration. Scales built a modern farrowing house and a combination loafing shelter and concrete feeding platform. By extending waterlines from the well to the hog barns, Scales was able to install automatic watering devices. Automatic feeders also are standard equipment now as are heat lamps and farrowing crates. This modern equipment has enabled the Scales family to more than double their hog production without ircreasing labor requirements.-DAV ROBERTSON, district conservationis SCS, Wagoner, Okla. Conservation July 1971, Vol. 36, No. 12 This month SOIL CONSERVATION reports on some results and benefits of land use planning. Beautiful Hawaii, featured on our cover, has pioneered in many approaches to land use planning. Its unique statewide Land Use Law requires that every bit of landpublic and private, good and bad, hillside and shoreline, farm and city-be given one of four classifications: urban, rural, agricultural, or conservation. The object of the law is twofold: to preserve prime agricultural land that otherwise might be lost forever to urban encroachment and to provide an adequate land reserve for economic growth. The lead article tells how planning and conservation practices helped preserve the natural setting at a housing development in West Virginia. lowa's pace-setting erosioncontrol law is discussed in an article by lowa's state conservationist, Wilson Moon. And the centerspread has an article about sanitary landfills in Ohio. COVER: Shopping centers and highrise hotels have changed downtown Honolulu. Diamond Head, in the background, is an unchanging sentinel over Waikiki. (Photograph courtesy of Hawaii's Department of Planning and Economic Development.) 266 288 From the Administrator "Doing our thing" in the planning process Prepared in the Division of Information, Soil Conservation Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, D.C. 20250 CLIFFORD M. HARDIN, Secretary of Agriculture KENNETH E. GRANT, Administrator, Soil Conservation Service PHILLIP A. CHAVEZ, Editor GEORGIE A. KELLER, Production Editor SOIL CONSERVATION is the official magazine of the Soil Conservation Service, pub lished monthly by direction of the Secretary of Agriculture as administrative informa tion required for proper transaction of the public business. Use of funds for printing this publication approved by the Director of the Bureau of the Budget July 17, 196 Reprint permission: Contents of this magazine may be reprinted without special per mission. Credit is not required but is appreciated. Photos available on request. Commercial names: Mention of commercial enterprises or brand names does not consti tute endorsement or imply preference by the Department of Agriculture. Subscription: $2.00 per year, $2.50 foreign. Single copy 25 cents. Discount of 25 percen on orders of 100 or more sent to same address. Order direct from Superintendent a Documents, Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. 20402. by James H. Canterberry Thousand Oaks is no ordinary District conservationist, SCS Charleston W. Va. housing development. Attention to little things often overlookedgrass, trees, the control of runoff -makes it more pleasant than most. This subdivision nestles among the hills of South Charleston, W. Va., one of the world's chemical centers. Residents of Thousand Oaks can live in harmony with their natural surroundings. Z. G. Huffman and Sherman Huffman started this development in 1960 with 18 acres of land. Today they have 86 acres and have built 100 of the planned 300 houses. The Huffman brothers recognized that their land had severe limitations for the intended use. The steeply sloping land receives an annual rainfall of 45 inches creating a potential for severe erosion. The banks of newly graded streets presented one of the first erosion problems. The Huffmans went to the Capitol Soil Conservation District for help. E. T. Estlack, then the Soil Conservation Service's district conservationist helped revegetate the banks. He recommended a seed mixture of crownvetch and tall fescue with fertilizer and straw for mulch. The Huffmans decided to grow their own crownvetch because sources were scarce. They sowed $600 worth of seed on their farm, and today they can use either crowns or seed. Planting of crowns speeds the establishment of cover. Roadbanks now have a good stand of vegetation almost by the time the concrete pavements are poured. The Huffmans are experienced builders with an appreciation for nature, but they also know the importance of trees in controlling erosion. Consequently, they disturb trees and other native vegetation only where necessary when excavating for foundations. "Why destroy trees?" asks Z. G. Huffman. "They are so valuable to a housing development, and it took nature 50 years to grow them." The Huffmans also reduced erosion and prevented land slips by fitting the house design and landscaping to the terrain, thus disturbing less soil. The Huffmans use channel-tile drainageways to cope with runoff. Tile is laid across the slope behind the house to intercept runoff. From there the water flows to another drainageway that carries it safely down the slope to a street or storm sewer. The developers also install foundation drains to carry off underground water. Homeowners in Thousand Oaks are encouraged to maintain the runoff-control practices and dense stands of sod. The Huffmans give each owner all the crownvetch seed and crowns he can use. Residents of Thousand Oaks are aware of and grateful for the attention given to preserving nature. Mr. and Mrs. Matt Matson be lieve that the subdivision offers what most modern developments don't. "Thousand Oaks is a little bit of country right in town," Mrs. Matson said. "Here my children have what my husband and I cannot buy them a close association with nature and its wonders." Mr. and Mrs. Philip Angel, Jr., selected Thousand Oaks because the natural setting had been preserved. "Our home would be just a nice box anywhere else," they claim. Lessons learned at Thousand Oaks have benefited the community and the state. As a member of the South Charleston Planning Commission, Zack Huffman spearheaded the effort to get erosion- and sedimentcontrol standards in the city's zoning ordinance and subdivision regulations. South Charleston was the first municipality in West Virginia to have erosion- and sediment-control regulations. Huffman was instrumental in the planning commission's signing of a memorandum of understanding with the Capitol Soil Conservation District. The memorandum, an agree ment to work together to conserve and develop natural resources, was the first of its kind in West Virginia between a city planning commission and a soil conservation district. "The best investments I make ir my housing developments are those for erosion control," Huffman said "Green grass and attractive sur roundings are my best salesmen." (Top) Developer Z. G. Huffman seeds all roadbank cut-and-fill slopes and other bare areas with a mixture of crownvetch and Kentucky 31 fescue to reduce erosion and to make his subdivision more attractive. (Bottom) Huffman, on the right, and SCS soil scientist Dale Childs examine a channeltile drainageway that carries surface water to the street. |