Idaho Dust Bowl

The Dust Bowl was an area in the Midwest that was severely affected by drought from 1931-1939 and occurred due to several conditions. Year after year, farmers grew crops with no crop rotation so the dirt turned to dust. Additionally, there was a severe drought along with wind storms which blew the dust for hundreds of miles. Idaho NRCS State Agronomist Marlon Winger told me that Idaho has similar circumstances. "Our beautiful state doesn't look a whole lot different than the dust bowl. That is because we are not following principles numbers one and four very well. We are not minimizing soil disturbance and we are not keeping the soil covered with plant residues, we are burying it. It is vulnerable to erosion. So you are putting out an alert saying if we don't start taking care of things we are going to be upside down. We are already upside down. If you drive from Boise to St. Anthony on the freeway, we have some pretty screwed up soil in our state. We have nonfunctioning soils. They are closing down the freeway. That was only supposed to happen in the dust bowl years. They are closing down the freeway? We are closing down the freeways several times a year in our state of Idaho due to wind erosion. Where are you from appear in Boise? Yes. You travel from Twin Falls to St. Anthony some time in the spring time when the wind is blowing and it puts a pit in your stomach.