OCR Text |
Show Thousands of Black Willows Planted In Southern Utah Black Willows one hundred thousand of them are being planted by the State Road Commission Com-mission along the streams of Southern Utah to form barriers for streams that are in the habit of washing out their banks, and, in many cases, undermining and destroying the highways, according accord-ing to Grant R. Bowen, Landscape Land-scape Engineer for the Commission. Commis-sion. The trees, little fellows (but the black willows attain a height of sixthy feet) are planted on the banks at low water levels and when the streams are swollen the trees slow up the movement of the water and the streams then deposit the silt among the trees or behind them building solid banks and holding to their regular channels. In the course of a few years, long ribbons of green trees will run through the hot stretches of southern Utah and the hope is that much of the beauty of the country can be re-established, making it attractive and desirable. desir-able. On the Virgin River, near the town of Virgin, 30,000 trees are being planted to control the flood waters of the river. A few years ago a washout of the highway occurred at this point that cost $30,000 to repair. The savings possible by this type of control can be estimated when we learn that the trees can be grown and planted for only 7 cents each. The total cost for the planting of the 100,000 trees now under way is only $7,000, a small item compared com-pared to the cost or repairing a single highway washout. |