Use the Field Walkover Guide to set conservation priorities this spring

The most vulnerable time of the year for soil loss is April through June, which makes it a good time  to conduct a field walkover to see if there are any parts of your land losing soil. Take UW Discovery Farms’ Field Walkover Guide with you to help identify and prioritize conservation needs. The guide highlights ways to visually identify erosion risks and offers potential solutions and considerations for each unique situation.

Included in the guide are two decision trees that walk through in-field erosion and concentrated flow area assessments. The trees provide a series of yes or no questions that can be answered based on visual observations. 15+ photo examples are also included in the guide as another way to help identify areas in need of attention.

The walkover guide is a culmination of 60 farm walkovers on 15,000 acres in Wisconsin conducted by the UW Discovery Farms. Information gathered during the walkovers was used to identify field-specific areas of concern. During a follow-up farm visit, areas in need of improvement were identified and prioritized, and farmers were offered simple solutions for improving problem areas. The guide is based on common themes and feedback from these on-farm walkovers, as well as the 200 site years of data collected from Discovery Farms water quality monitoring.

Access the walkover guide here.

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