United States Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service

Part 630 Hydrology National Engineering Handbook

Chapter 8

Land Use and Treatment Classes

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Chapter 8

Land Use and Treatment Classes

Part 630 National Engineering Handbook

Issued June 2002

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination in all its programs and activities on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, religion, age, disability, political beliefs, sexual orientation, or marital or family status. (Not all prohibited bases apply to all programs.) Persons with disabilities who require alternative means for communication of program information (Braille, large print, audiotape, etc.) should contact USDAs TARGET Center at (202) 720-2600 (voice and TDD). To file a complaint of discrimination, write USDA, Director, Office of Civil Rights, Room 326W, Whitten Building, 14th and Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, DC 20250-9410 or call (202) 720-5964 (voice and TDD). USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer.
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Acknowledgments

Chapter 8 was originally prepared by Victor Mockus, retired hydraulic engineer, USDA Soil Conservation Service, and was published in 1964. It was reprinted with minor revisions in 1969. This version was prepared by the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS)/Agricultural Research Service (ARS) Curve Number Work Group. Members of this group are: Natural Resources Conservation Service Donald E. Woodward, national hydraulic engineer, Washington, DC R.D. Neilsen, soil scientist, Lincoln, Nebraska R. Kluth (retired) A. Plummer J. Van Mullem (retired) G. Conaway (retired) Agricultural Research Service B. Gburek K. Cooley (retired) University of Arizona R.H. Hawkins

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Chapter 8

Land Use and Treatment Classes

Contents:

630.0800 630.0801 630.0802

General Classification of land use and treatment

81 81

Classes 82 (a) Cultivated land .............................................................................................. 82 (b) Grassland ....................................................................................................... 83 (c) Woods and forest .......................................................................................... 84

630.0803 630.0804

Determinations of classes References

84 85

Tables

Table 81 Table 82 Table 83

Classification of native pasture or range Air-dry weight classification of native pasture or range Classification of woods

83 83 84

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630.0800 General
The land use and treatment classes ordinarily evaluated in watershed studies are briefly described. These classes are used in determining hydrologic soil-cover complexes which are used in a method for estimating runoff from rainfall. See National Engineering Handbook, section 630 (NEH 630), chapter 9 for more information on hydrologic soil-cover complexes and chapter 10 for methods for estimating runoff from rainfall.

630.0801 Classification of land use and treatment

In the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) method of runoff estimation, the effects of the surface conditions of a watershed are evaluated by means of land use and treatment classes. Land use is the watershed cover and includes every kind of vegetation, litter and mulch, fallow, and bare soil as well as nonagricultural uses, such as water surface (lakes, swamps) and impervious surfaces (roads, roofs). Land treatment applies mainly to agricultural land uses and includes mechanical practices, such as contouring or terracing, and management practices, such as grazing control or rotation of crops. The classes consist of use and treatment combinations that actually occur on watersheds. Land use and treatment classes are readily obtained either by observation or by measurement of plant and litter density and extent on sample areas.

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Part 630 National Engineering Handbook

630.0802 Classes
The land uses and treatments described here are listed in NEH 630, chapter 9, table 91. This table also shows the runoff curve numbers (CN) for hydrologic soilcover complexes for which the hydrologic conditions are listed.

contouring and should be so considered when using table 91. Rotations are planned sequences of crops, and their purpose is to maintain soil fertility or reduce erosion or provide an annual supply of a particular crop. Hydrologically, rotations range from poor to good in proportion to the amount of dense vegetation in the rotation, and they are evaluated in terms of hydrologic effects. Poor rotations are generally one-crop land uses, such as continuous corn (maize) or continuous wheat or combinations of row crops, small grains, and fallow. Good rotations generally include alfalfa or another close-seeded legume or grass to improve tilth and increase infiltration. Their hydrologic effects may carry over into succeeding years after the crop is removed though normally the effects are minor after the second year. The carryover effect is not considered in table 91. Contoured fields are those farmed as nearly as possible on the contour. The hydrologic effect of contouring results from the surface storage provided by the furrows because the storage prolongs the time during which infiltration can take place. The magnitude of storage depends not only on the dimensions of the furrows, but also on the land slope, crop, and manner of planting and cultivation. Planting small grains or legumes on the contour makes small furrows that disappear because of climatic action during the growing season. The contour furrows used with row crops are either large when the crop is planted and made smaller by cultivation or small after planting and made larger by cultivation, depending on the type of farming. Average conditions for the growing season are used in table 91. The relative effects of contouring for all croplands shown in the table are based on data from experimental watersheds having slopes from 3 to 8 percent. Stripcropping is a land use and treatment not specifically shown in table 91 because it is a composite of uses and treatments. It is evaluated by the method of example 104 in chapter 10. The terraced entries in table 91 refer to systems that have open-end level or graded terraces, grassed waterway outlets, and contour furrows between the terraces. The hydrologic effects are due to the replacement of a low-infiltration land use by grassed waterways and to the increased opportunity for infiltration in the furrows and terraces. Closed-end level terraces, not shown in table 91, are evaluated by the methods in NEH 630, chapter 12.

(a) Cultivated land

Fallow listed in table 91 is the agricultural land use and treatment with the highest potential for runoff because the land is kept as bare as possible to conserve moisture for use by a succeeding crop. The loss by runoff is offset by the gain because of reduced transpiration. Other kinds of fallow, such as stubble mulch, are not listed, but they can be evaluated by comparing their field condition with those for classes that are listed. Row crop is any field crop (maize, sorghum, soybeans, sugarbeets, tomatoes, tulips) planted in rows far enough apart that most of the soil surface is exposed to rainfall impact throughout the growing season. At planting time the crop is equivalent to fallow and may be so again after harvest. In most evaluations the average condition when runoff occurs is assumed. Row crops are planted either in straight rows or on the contour, and they are in either a poor or a good rotation. These land treatments are described later in this chapter. Small grain (wheat, oats, barley, flax) is planted in rows close enough that the soil surface is not exposed except during planting and shortly thereafter. Land treatments are those used with row crops. Close-seeded or broadcast legumes or rotation meadows (alfalfa, sweetclover, timothy, and combinations of these) are either planted in close rows or broadcast. This cover may be allowed to remain for more than a year so that year-round protection is given to the soil. Straight-row fields are those farmed in straight rows either up and down the hill or across the slope. Where land slopes are less than about 2 percent, farming across the slope in straight rows is equivalent to
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Part 630 National Engineering Handbook

Conservation tillage is an umbrella term used to represent specific residue management practices, such as no-till/strip-till, mulch-till, or ridge-till. These practices leave all or a portion of the previous crops residue on the soil surface to: reduce soil erosion caused by the forces of wind and water, reduce surface runoff, increase infiltration, and reduce evaporation. No-till is defined as managing the amount, orientation, and distribution of crop and other plant residue on the soil surface year-round while growing crops in narrow slots or tilled or residue-free strips in soil previously untilled by full-width inversion implements. Mulch-till is defined as managing the amount, orientation, and distribution of crop and other plant residue on the soil surface year-round while growing crops where the entire field surface is tilled prior to planting. Ridge-till is defined as managing the amount, orientation, and distribution of crop and other plant residue on the soil surface year-round while growing crops on preformed ridges alternated with furrows protected by crop residue (NRCS 1999).

(b) Grassland
Grassland in watersheds can be evaluated by means of the three hydrologic conditions of native pasture or range shown in table 81, which are based on cover effectiveness, not forage production. The percent of area covered (or density) and the intensity of grazing are visually estimated. In making the estimates, consider that grazing on any but dry soils results in lowering of infiltration rates because of compaction of the soil by hooves, an effect that may carry over for a year or more even without further grazing. An alternative system of evaluation is shown in table 82. In this system, density and air-dry weights of grasses and litter are used. The air-dry weights are determined by sampling. The field work can be kept to a minimum by sampling a small number of representative sites rather than a large number of random sites. In the table the classes with plus signs are midway between adjacent classes so that the CN for these classes must be obtained by interpolation in table 91. Contour furrows on native pasture or range are longer lasting than those on cultivated land, their length of life being dependent on the soil, intensity of grazing, and on the density of cover. The dimensions and spacings of furrows vary with climate and topography. The CN in table 91 are based on data from contoured grassland watersheds in the central and southern Great Plains. Terraces are seldom used on grassland. When they are, the construction methods expose bare soils, and for 2 or 3 years the terraced grassland is more like terraced cropland in its effect on surface runoff.

Table 81

Classification of native pasture or range

Table 82

Air-dry weight classification of native pasture or range

Plant and litter air-dry weight (tons/ac) 1/ < 0.5 0.5 to 1.5 > 1.5

Vegetative condition

Hydrologic condition

Cover density (%)

Heavily grazedNo mulch or has plant cover on < 0.5 of area Not heavily grazedPlant cover on 0.5 to 0.75 of the area Lightly grazedPlant cover on > 0.75 of the area

Poor < 50 Fair 50 to 75 > 75 Good Poor Poor + Fair Poor + Fair Fair + Fair Fair + Good

1/ Classes with plus signs are midway between adjacent classes so CN must be obtained by interpolation in table 91.

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Meadow is a field on which grass is continuously grown, protected from grazing, and generally mowed for hay. Drained meadows (those having a low water table) have little or no surface runoff except during storms that have a high rainfall intensity. Undrained meadows (those having a high water table) may be so wet that they are the equivalent of water surfaces in the runoff computations of chapter 10. If a wet meadow is drained, its soil-group classification as well as its land use and treatment class may change (see chapter 7 regarding the change in soil classification and/or dual hydrologic soil groups).

630.0803 Determinations of classes

The land use and treatment classes on a watershed can be determined at the same time the soils are classified (NEH 630, ch. 7). As with soils, the classes are determined for hydrologic unit (NEH 630, ch. 6). Locations of the classes within the units are ignored. A worksheet with classes shown in the order given in table 91 is convenient for tabulating percentages or acreages and is useful later in computing weighted CN. Classifying the cover on a 400 square mile watershed should take less than a day. The data may be available as digital overlays in a Geographic Information System (GIS) format. For an analytical study of the effects of cover location in a watershed on the shapes of outflow hydrographs, see the chapter by Merrill Bernard in Headwaters Control and Use (USDA 1937). Bernard's study shows that the percentage of area in high runoff producing crops has more influence on the hydrographs than does the location of these crops within the watershed. The effect of location is significant, however, when corn and grass are concentrated in equal-sized areas.

(c) Woods and forest

Woods are usually small isolated groves of trees being raised for farm or ranch use. The woods can be evaluated as shown in table 83, which is based on cover effectiveness, not on timber production. The hydrologic condition is visually estimated. In areas where national or commercial forest covers a large part of a watershed, the NRCS hydrologist is guided by the letter between the Forest Service and the Soil Conservation Service dated November 8, 1954 (USDA 1954).

Table 83

Classification of woods

Vegetative condition

Hydrologic condition

Heavily grazed or regularly burned. Litter, small trees, and brush are destroyed. Grazed, but not burned. Some litter, but woods are not protected. Protected from grazing. Litter and shrubs cover the soil.

Poor

Fair

Good

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Part 630 National Engineering Handbook

630.0804 References
Bernard, Merrill. 1937. Headwaters control and use. U.S. Dep. Agric., Washington, DC. United States Department of Agriculture. 1954. Letter between U.S. Forest Service and the Soil Conservation Service, November 8, 1954, on classifying hydrologic condition of woods and forests. United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service. 1959. Forest and range hydrology handbook. Washington, DC. United States Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service. 1999. Introduction to crop residue management and conservation tillage. In CORE4 Conservation Practices, part 1, chapter 1.

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