The Farmville herald. (Farmville, Va.) 1957-current, 1957-06-28
Water And Soil Conservation Demonstrated
By Pilot Watershed Project In Appomattox

Serves AS Guide
For Other Areas
By BILL WALL
tTnis is the first in a series on
watershed development in this
area.l
H. E. Lacy. Prince E ware
county soil conServationist, Frank
Hudson. county conservation aide,
and / recently took a quick trip
and tour of one of the pilot water
sheds in the nation serving as
model of what can be done.
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What is a watershed? A water
shed is the land and water lying
within natural drainage area.
The watershed may range from
the small watershed area that
drains to small farm pond or
It may be as large as half a con-
tinent. such as the Mississippi
River watershed.
Luckily the project is being carried
out in neighboring Appomattox
county. SO We did not have too far
to travel, and it was well worth the
half day it took to tour the project
This is one of the SO pilot water
sheds in the nation. and is located
on the east fork Of Failing river
1t covers 42.706 acres of land on the
headWaterS OF the river and includes
parts Of Appomattox and Campbell
counties.
What makes the trip SO very in
teresting is the fact that a Buffalo
Creek Watershed exists in Prince
Edward county that covers an area
of 1900 acres of land in the south
west side OF the county. This is of
interest especially to Farmville resi-
dents because we get our drinking
water from the water that pours
down through this watershed area
Guide for Prince Edward
Every step that has been taken In
Appomattox county can be done in
Prince Edward county and the en-
tire county will stand to gain.
T. E. Dickerson. soil conservation
list for Appomattox and Buckingham
counties, guided us to the spots of
interest. He explained that this
project was authorized by Congress
in 1854 to demonstrate advantages
of complete conservation treatment
of small watersheds, including flood
control.
The project also was undertaken
to provide experience in developing
sound procedures for local-State-
federal cooperation in achieving in
creased productivity. decreased ero-
sion. decreased flood water and
sediment damages. and other bene-
fits of watershed project.
The project supplements the nor
NAL conservation program of this
district-the Robert E. Lee soil con-
servation district Examples of the
work done on the project are flood
water retarding structures, stream
channel Improvement, waterway de-
velopment, and Sterilization of sedi-
ment producing areas such as road
banks, gullies and gals.
Local Control
So far. two flood water control
dams have been completed and con-
struction of third dam was auth
orized last Friday This third dam
will be the largest.
The dam is built with federal
funds in accordance with Public
Law 566. Once the dam is built it
Is turned over to the landowners
to maintain.
The landowner actually owns the
lake that is created. and agrees to
keep the dam in shape and allow
members of the soil conservation
district to inspect the dam and IA
cllltieS on the dam. Whether the
landowner wishes to turn his lake
into a fish pond, swimming pond or
use it for irrigation is up to him.
These three dams will capture
floodwater and allow it to flow out
at a steady, normal flow over a
longer period of time Thus bottom
land below the dam will be pro-
tected from the danger of floods
The profitable use Of bottom land
is one of the excellent features of
the project. Since bottom land is
raising crops. it would be extremely
beneficial to be able to use this
land without fear of its being con-
stantly flooded.
Ed Dickerson pointed out that
the entire project takes the coopera-
ton Of all elements in the com
munity For instance in the case of
the dam now to be built. it re-
CURED that portion of the secon-