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Revegetation on Bench takes root
August 1, 2005, 12:05 AM
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By BURKE WASSON
LVN Staff Writer
An overabundance of dust and weeds has been a problem at Swingle Bench for years as irrigation water has been bought and former farm fields dry up. But according to the Lahontan Conservation District, it's a situation that is slowly being cured.
A combined effort between various local and federal agencies to increase vegetation, control noxious weeds and improve water quality to nearby lands in the Swingle Bench area is steadily making progress.
Joanne Hanks, who is a conservation specialist with the LCD, said the fallow lands at the area are improved to a nearly natural state this year with increased irrigation.
But she said this report might be a bit misleading because of the unusually high amount of precipitation that fell on Fallon during the winter and spring.
With that in mind, she said gauging success of the irrigation efforts would probably have to wait until next year.
In the meantime, LCD officials plan to plant more native seeds, irrigate a few more times before the winter and hope for the best.
The experiment should get its truest results next year because the group will not be able to water the area. By that time, officials are hopeful that the native plants will be able to make it on their own.
But besides seeing whether native plants can prosper in the area, Natural Resources Conservation Service official Rod Dahl said there is another problem to work on at Swingle Bench - noxious weeds.
"It was so wet this spring, we had a lot of weed problems and (LCD officials) went in and tried to mow the weeds and knock the weeds down and they harvested the grain off of there," Dahl said.
"I think there's some success and some failures with it. Some of the grasses are coming up. The weeds are the biggest problem with it. That probably won't be around in a normal year."
And with native plants hopefully growing in the area, the ever-present dust that clouds Swingle Bench as a result of non-productive farmland could be greatly diminished. LCD officials said this is an important step in order to eliminate the risk of car accidents on U.S. 50 due to a potential dust hazard.
Since a 1996 water quality agreement was passed, various entities upstream and downstream on the Truckee River have been buying irrigation water off the Bench to improve water quality in the river. The result has been a desertification of former alfalfa fields in the Swingle Bench area.
The project also complements the NRCS's plans to develop a plant materials center in Fallon, which will study what types of plants work best in northern Nevada land rehabilitation efforts.
The seeds for the two Fallon projects were obtained from plant materials centers in western state like Idaho and Colorado, where the high, dry terrain is similar to Nevada's.
While there has already been much work involved with the revegetation, officials from all agencies will have to patiently wait until next year to see if it works.
"At least on the Swingle Bench area, it's a little early to tell," Dahl said. "We've planted a lot of native species as well as some grain. But everything seems to be up. From what I understand, it's going about as well as can be expected."
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