2-1902.   Legislative determination.It is hereby declared, as a matter of legislative determination:

      A.   The condition. That the farm and grazing lands of the stateof Kansas are among the basic assets of the state and that thepreservation of these lands is necessary to protect and promote thehealth, safety, and general welfare of its people; that improperland-use practices have caused and have contributed to, and are nowcausing and contributing to, a progressively more serious erosion of thefarm and grazing lands of this state by wind and water; that thebreaking of natural grass, plant, and forest cover have interfered withthe natural factors of soil stabilization, causing loosening of soil andexhaustion of humus, and developing a soil condition that favorserosion; that the topsoil is being blown and washed out of fields andpastures; that there has been an accelerated washing of sloping fields;that these processes of erosion by wind and water speed up with removalof absorptive topsoil, causing exposure of less absorptive and lessprotective but more erosive subsoil; that failure by any land occupierto conserve the soil and control erosion upon said person's lands causesa washing and blowing of soil and water from said person's lands ontoother lands and makes the conservation of soil, control of erosion,prevention of floods and management, control and protection of waterand water quality on such other landsdifficult or impossible.

      B.   The consequences. That the consequences of such soil erosionin the form of soil-blowing and soil-washing are the silting andsedimentation of stream channels, reservoirs, dams, ditches, andharbors; the loss of fertile soil material in dust storms; the piling upof soil on lower slopes, and its deposit over alluvial plains; thereduction in productivity or outright ruin of rich bottom lands byoverwash of poor subsoil material, sand, and gravel swept out of thehills; deterioration of soil and its fertility, deterioration of cropsgrown thereon, and declining acre yields despite development ofscientific processes for increasing such yields; loss of soil and water,which causes destruction of food and cover for wild life; a blowing andwashing of soil into streams which silts over spawning beds, anddestroys water plants, diminishing the food supply of fish; adiminishing of the underground water reserve, which causes watershortages, intensified periods of drought, and causes crop failures; anincrease in the speed and volume of rainfall runoff, causing severe andincreasing floods, which bring suffering, disease, and death;impoverishment of families attempting to farm eroding and eroded lands;damage to roads, highways, railways, farm buildings, and other propertyfrom floods and from dust storms; and losses in navigation,hydroelectric power; municipal water supply, irrigation developments,farming, and grazing.

      C.   The appropriate corrective methods. That to conserve soilresources and control and prevent soil erosion and reduce flood damagesand to provide for the conservation, development, utilization anddisposal of water, it is necessary that land-use practices contributingto soil wastage and soil erosion be discouraged and discontinued, andappropriate soil-conserving land-use practices and structural works ofimprovement be adopted and carried out; that among the proceduresnecessary for widespread adoption, are the carrying on of engineeringoperations such as the construction of terraces, terrace outlets,check-dams, dikes, ponds, ditches, detention dams, grade stabilizationstructures, channel improvements, floodways, water resource developmentsand the like; the utilization of strip cropping; lister furrowing,contour cultivating, and contour furrowing; land irrigation; seeding andplanting of waste, sloping, abandoned, or eroded lands towater-conserving and erosion-preventing plants, trees, and grasses;forestation and reforestation; rotation of crops; soil stabilizationwith trees, grasses, legumes, and other thick-growing soil-holdingcrops, retardation of runoff by increasing absorption of rainfall; andretirement from cultivation of steep, highly erosive areas and areas nowbadly gullied or otherwise eroded.

      D.   Declaration of policy. It is hereby declared to be thepolicy of the legislature to provide for the conservation, use anddevelopment of the soil and water resources of this state, and for thecontrol and prevention of soil erosion, flood damages andinjury to the quality of water, and thereby topreserve natural resources, control floods, prevent impairment of damsand reservoirs, assist in maintaining the navigability of rivers andharbors, preserve wild life, protect the tax base, protect public lands,and protect and promote the health, safety, and general welfare of thepeople of this state.

      History:   L. 1937, ch. 5, § 2; L. 1955, ch. 7, § 1; L. 1979,ch. 6, § 1; July 1.