Oklahoma Journeys

Week of March 7, 2009

First Shelterbelt Planted Greer County, Oklahoma, 1936

Throughout history, the high arid plains of western Oklahoma have presented a challenge for farmers and ranchers trying to make a living there. It’s always been hot, dry, and windy in western Oklahoma, but in 1930s attempts began to take the edge off of life on the high plains. Situated just north of Mangum in Greer County was the nation’s first shelterbelt. That’s the topic of this week’s Oklahoma Journeys from the Oklahoma History Center.

From the Oklahoma History Center, this is Oklahoma Journeys. I’m Michael Dean.

Although the high arid plains of western Oklahoma have always been notoriously dry and windy, the dust bowl and depression of the 1930s sparked an effort to try and improve conditions in that particular part of the state. The effects of a prolonged drought and poor farming practices became abundantly clear during the early and mid-1930s with the emergence of the Dust Bowl phenomenon. High constant winds picked up the soil loosened by plowing and drought, churning it into literal walls of dirt miles high and wide. The looming masses of loose soil covered everything in their path with thick layers of dirt, suffocating crops and animals alike.

In an effort to ease the burden of western populations in Oklahoma and other plains states, the federal government began a forestation project in the area. As a part of President Roosevelt’s New Deal Program, an effort began to populate the plains with trees. It was thought that if a strip of land 100 miles wide stretching from northern Texas to Canada could be planted with trees that this would have a significant and positive impact on the environment. This band of trees composed of individual lines of trees running east and west in the middle of each section could, theoretically, decrease the force of the wind and humidify the air and the ground thereby increasing crop yield while simultaneously preventing the giant dusters as the dirt storms were called. The idea of a shelterbelt made of trees was new to most people and met with no little amount of skepticism. With the support of the forest service and the president, however, the project received the go-ahead.

It was in the week of 1935 that the very first tree in the Shelterbelt Program was planted. Just north of Mangum in Greer County, it can still be seen today, the first known shelterbelt ever planted in the United States. The program was a qualified success with hundreds of miles of shelterbelts planted and many farmers reporting improvements. With rising crop prices, however, many of the belts were removed in the 1950s to make room for more cash crops. New equipment and farming techniques it was thought justified the removal of these trees the one time, saviors of the plains.

The shelterbelt program is just one of the many fascinating stories of Oklahoma contained in the archives at the Oklahoma History Center on NE 23rd Street just east of the state capitol in Oklahoma City. Oklahoma Journeys is a production of the Oklahoma History Center, dedicated to the collection, preservation, and sharing of our state’s past. I’m Michael Dean.