Legislative determination - Soil condition

It is declared, as a matter of legislative determination: (1) That the farm and grazing lands of the State of Arkansas are among the basic assets of the state and that the preservation of these lands is necessary to protect and promote the health, safety, and general welfare of its people; (2) That improper land-use practices have caused and have contributed to, and are now causing and contributing to, a progressively more serious erosion of the farm and grazing lands of this state by water and wind; (3) That the breaking of natural grass, plant, and forest cover have interfered with the natural factors of soil stabilization, causing loosening of soil and exhaustion of humus and developing a soil condition that favors erosion; (4) That the topsoil is being washed and blown out of the fields and pastures; (5) That there has been an accelerated washing of sloping fields; (6) That these processes of erosion by water and wind speed up with removal of absorptive topsoil, causing exposure of less absorptive and less protective but more erosive subsoil; (7) That failure by any landowner to conserve the soil and control erosion upon his lands causes a washing and blowing of soil and water from his lands onto other lands and makes the conservation of soil and control of erosion on such other lands difficult or impossible. Acts 1937, No. 197, § 2; Pope's Dig., § 11834; A.S.A. 1947, § 9-902.

It is declared, as a matter of legislative determination:

(1) That the farm and grazing lands of the State of Arkansas are among the basic assets of the state and that the preservation of these lands is necessary to protect and promote the health, safety, and general welfare of its people;

(2) That improper land-use practices have caused and have contributed to, and are now causing and contributing to, a progressively more serious erosion of the farm and grazing lands of this state by water and wind;

(3) That the breaking of natural grass, plant, and forest cover have interfered with the natural factors of soil stabilization, causing loosening of soil and exhaustion of humus and developing a soil condition that favors erosion;

(4) That the topsoil is being washed and blown out of the fields and pastures;

(5) That there has been an accelerated washing of sloping fields;

(6) That these processes of erosion by water and wind speed up with removal of absorptive topsoil, causing exposure of less absorptive and less protective but more erosive subsoil;

(7) That failure by any landowner to conserve the soil and control erosion upon his lands causes a washing and blowing of soil and water from his lands onto other lands and makes the conservation of soil and control of erosion on such other lands difficult or impossible.

Acts 1937, No. 197, § 2; Pope's Dig., § 11834; A.S.A. 1947, § 9-902.