The Washington Department of Ecology officials want to expand dust reduction efforts and reach more farmers on the Columbia Plateau.

The department in 2019 formed a “Dust Buster Workgroup” using $144,300 and working with farmers in the Horse Heaven Hills and Benton, Franklin and Walla Walla counties.

Farmland southwest and northeast of Kennewick, Wash., are prone to dust storms, according to Ecology. Because of the high number, the federal Environmental Protection Agency required the department to prepare a mitigation plan for the area.

Twenty farmers have participated so far, implementing best practices on 6,175 acres.

Funds are awarded through grants to the Benton Conservation District and help farmers implement erosion control methods, including:

• Cover crops.

• Wind barriers such as narrow strips of perennial vegetation established across the prevailing wind direction.

• No-till and mulch-till farming.

Without the preventive measures like using cover crops and no-till methods, valuable topsoil can be carried away by wind or water erosion.

Brian Cochrane, a Kahlotus, Wash., wheat farmer and a board member of the Washington Grain Commission, started participating in the work group because his contracts in the Conservation Reserve Program expired and he wanted to get his land back into a crop rotation.

He recommends the program to other farmers, saying it gives him time to get the ground farm-ready again.

Ecology is reaching out to both English- and Spanish-speaking farmers.

“It takes 100 years for Mother Nature to create 1 inch of topsoil. Maintaining our existing topsoil is critical for agriculture,” said Kim Vaughn, community outreach and environmental education specialist for Ecology’s air quality program. “This program has saved 39,325 tons of soil per year on practices implemented to date.”

Soil savings are calculated using the Natural Resources Conservation Service’s Integrated Erosion Tool, Vaughn said.

Before and after photographs are taken and field monitoring is conducted to document the effectiveness of the best management practices.

The department will be seeking funding for the next biennium, Vaughn said.