Illinois Success Story

RC&D & EQIP Restoring Barren Soils

By: Jill Creamean, NRCS Public Affairs Specialist
October 2002

Working through NRCS’s Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), landowners in Hamilton, White, Saline and Gallatin Counties are working to improve brine-damaged soils. Brine, or salt water, is a by-product of oil production that has rendered soils unproductive in many oil producing areas.

High levels of salt in the soil impair soil productivity and increase soil erosion. Salt causes the soil’s natural structure to disperse, which leads to poor infiltration and high runoff from rainfall. Runoff then causes severe erosion and gullying. In addition, the high salt content allows few, if any, plants to grow. Commodity crop production is impossible in areas directly affected by salts. Estimates in the four-county area show that over 7,000 brine damaged sites ranging from .1 to 9.7 acres in size are losing 30-35 tons of soil per year from erosion.

With leadership and assistance from the Shawnee RC&D and NRCS District Conservationists, area landowners formed the Southeast Illinois Brine Damage Task Force in May 1995. The group’s mission is to find viable and cost effective solutions to address oil field brine damage. Since then, the Task Force has worked in cooperation with State and Federal agencies and private industry to identify and treat areas that, over time, can someday become productive and economically viable.

Working with NRCS, the Task Force has secured over $236,000 since 1997 through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP). Through EQIP, 165 different contracts for remediating oil brine damage have been funded. With technical assistance, soil survey information, and resource planning guidance from NRCS, landowners are installing conservation practices to control soil erosion, improve water quality, enhance wildlife habitat and help the aesthetics of the area.

Saline County landowner Harry Leitch owns property where leaks from improperly closed wells created a barren, eroding landscape. "The oil company left a big mess," said Leitch. "The soil wouldn’t even grow weeds. Gullies formed and kept washing out the soil. With help from [NRCS District Conservationist] Jim Warder and [NRCS Soil Conservation Technician] Mike Gwaltney, we leveled the area and seeded it to control the erosion. The affected area is getting smaller, and it looks better all the time. I have hopes the land will be ready for crops again in the next 4 or 5 years," said Leitch.

A total of 16 demonstration sites were established in the four-county area to explore various vegetative, mineral and organic techniques to improve brine-damaged soils. The sites were established in a partnership effort through a $35,000 Illinois EPA Section 319 grant. Local SWCDs have hosted over 195 participants at tours of the demonstration sites. These Task Force successes are inspiring and guiding new efforts in other Illinois counties and Indiana.

Photo caption: Saline County landowner Harry Leitch (on the right) and NRCS District Conservationist Jim Warder examine plantings that are helping to restore and stabilized soils damaged by oil brine leaks on Leitch’s property. "There’s hardly a farm in the county that our NRCS office hasn’t helped, not just with the oil brine damage, but also with conservation on the farm," said Leitch. "You couldn’t find a nicer bunch of guys," Leitch continued, "They’re doing a wonderful job getting the brine damage contained."