Dust Bowl ecological disaster
The Dust Bowl refers to a significant ecological disaster that occurred during the 1930s, primarily affecting the Great Plains of the United States. Characterized by severe drought conditions, the disaster was exacerbated by poor agricultural practices, such as overgrazing and the extensive plowing of land for wheat cultivation, which stripped the soil of its natural grasses. The combination of these factors led to the creation of dust storms, which became increasingly severe from 1932 to 1934, culminating in massive storms that affected areas far beyond the plains, such as Chicago.
The storms, often referred to as "black blizzards," could produce towering walls of dust that reduced visibility to near zero, causing health issues like dust pneumonia and prompting mass migrations as millions abandoned their farms in search of better living conditions. Although the crisis began to ease with the return of rain in the late 1930s, the experience led to the implementation of soil conservation measures supported by the U.S. government. Unfortunately, many farmers reverted to harmful practices once the drought ended, raising concerns about the potential for future ecological disasters. The legacy of the Dust Bowl serves as a cautionary tale regarding sustainable farming practices and environmental stewardship in the region.
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Subject Terms
Dust Bowl ecological disaster
The Event: Environmental disaster marked by huge dust storms in the southern region of the Great Plains of the United States
Date: 1930’s
The Dust Bowl revealed the damage that mechanized agriculture could cause if not accompanied by a program of soil management.
Droughts periodically occur in the Great Plains of the United States. During such periods, winds pick up loose soil and create dust storms, especially during the spring months. Settlers reported numerous examples of this natural phenomenon during the nineteenth century. During the twentieth century, new agricultural practices and overgrazing by cattle speeded soil erosion in the region. Tractors and other machines allowed farmers to plow larger areas for planting wheat. In the process, they destroyed the natural grasses, the root systems of which had stabilized the soil. Because the wheat replaced the grasses, most farmers remained unaware that they were contributing to a coming catastrophe.
In 1931 a severe drought struck the Great Plains; it centered on the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles, northeastern New Mexico, eastern Colorado, and southwestern Kansas. The wheat crop withered in the fields, and its root systems were no longer able to support the soil. As the drought continued, soil particles that normally clustered together separated into a fine dust. When the winds blew in early 1932, they lifted the dust into the air, marking the beginning of the environmental disaster that a newspaper reporter later dubbed the Dust Bowl.
Although their number and severity increased, dust storms remained an issue of local and regional concern for the first two years. However, as the drought continued into 1934, the storms grew so immense that they caused damage in areas far from the plains. A storm that emanated from Montana and Wyoming in May, 1934, deposited an estimated twelve million tons of dust on Chicago, Illinois. Ships that were some 480 kilometers (300 miles) offshore in the Atlantic Ocean reported that dust from the same storm landed on their decks. Incidents such as these provoked national concern over the growing crisis on the plains.
Scientists identified two types of dust storms: those caused by winds from the southwest and those resulting from air masses moving from the north. While no less damaging, the more frequent southwest storms tended to be milder than the terrifying northern storms, which came to be known as “black blizzards.” Huge walls of dust, sometimes more than 1.6 kilometers (1 mile) high, rolled across the plains at 100 kilometers per hour (62 miles per hour) or faster, driving frightened birds before them. The sun would disappear, it would become as dark as night, and frightened people would huddle in their homes, their windows often taped shut. On occasion, people stranded outside during these severe storms suffocated. Some black blizzards lasted less than one hour; others reportedly continued for longer than three days.
Most historians argue that the Dust Bowl was one of the worst ecological disasters in the United States, one that could have been mitigated had farmers practiced soil conservation in the years before drought struck. Instead, farms were ruined, causing some 3.5 million people to abandon the land. Many of them moved into small towns on the plains, while others journeyed to California in search of opportunity. Cattle and wildlife choked to death. Human respiratory illnesses increased markedly during the Dust Bowl era, and a number of people died from an ailment known as dust pneumonia. Anecdotal evidence indicates that many people grew depressed as the dust storms continued year after year.
The mid-1930’s marked the peak of the Dust Bowl, with seventy-two storms that reduced visibility to less than 1.6 kilometers (1 mile) reported in 1937. The return of the rain in the late 1930’s eased the crisis, and by 1941 the disaster was over. However, by that time ecologists and farmers had begun to undertake soil conservation measures in response to the crisis. The U.S. government provided expertise and financial support for many of these efforts. Farmers practiced listing, a plowing process that makes deep furrows to capture the soil and prevent it from blowing. Alternating strips of planted wheat with dense, drought-resistant feed crops such as sorghum slowed erosion by blocking wind and retaining moisture, which prevented the soil from separating into dust. On lands not farmed, natural grasses were planted to prevent erosion. The government also sponsored the Shelterbelt Project, a program that used rows of trees to form windbreaks. Millions of trees were planted throughout the Great Plains, with more than 4,828 kilometers (3,000 miles) of shelterbelts created in Kansas alone.
Despite the experiences of the 1930’s, once the drought ended many farmers returned to the farming practices that had damaged their fields. Soil conservation experts worried that the region would suffer a return of Dust Bowl conditions when the rains stopped. Their predictions came to pass in 1952, when another drought led to a series of dust storms, including several storms with wind gusts clocked at 129 kilometers (80 miles) per hour. That drought ended in 1957, but in accord with a twenty-year cycle, the region again faced a shortage of rainfall in the early 1970’s. At that time some analysts confidently predicted that dust storms such as those seen in the 1930’s were a thing of the past. They claimed that irrigation with aquiferwater from deep wells would prevent soil erosion. However, shrewd observers pointed out that the fate of the region was now tied to a resource, aquifer water, that would become increasingly precious in the coming years. The possibility that the Great Plains could again witness a devastating ecological catastrophe like that of the 1930’s remains.
Bibliography
Bonnifield, Paul. The Dust Bowl: Men, Dirt, and Depression. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1979.
Cunfer, Geoff. On the Great Plains: Agriculture and Environment. College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2005.
Hurt, R. Douglas. The Dust Bowl: An Agricultural and Social History. Chicago: Burnham, 1981.
Lookingbill, Brad D. Dust Bowl, USA: Depression America and the Ecological Imagination, 1929-1941. Athens: Ohio University Press, 2001.
Worster, Donald. Dust Bowl: The Southern Plains in the 1930s. 25th anniversary ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004.