Current Damage Estimates Ignore Gullies

Soil erosion and runoff is actually worse ¾ likely far worse ¾ than even the alarming IDEP estimates because the currently available models cannot account for the erosion caused by ephemeral gullies. Such gullies are called “ephemeral” because tillage temporarily obliterates them, but they quickly reappear when the next storm occurs.

Surprisingly little research or monitoring has been done to determine how much erosion occurs in ephemeral gullies. A 2008 study published in the Journal of Soil and Water Conservation that simulated erosion in ephemeral gullies reported rates ranging from 2.23 tons to 4.91 tons per acre per year.⁷ A survey conducted by Natural Resources Conservation Service found that the erosion in ephemeral gullies ranged from 1.22 tons per acre per year in Michigan to 12.8 tons in Virginia.⁸ The same report concluded that including ephemeral gully erosion in national estimates could more the double the amount of soil loss thought to be occurring.