New Mexico Wind Erosion Prediction Guide

Geologic wind erosion is a part of the land forming process. Wind erosion is accelerated by human activities which disturb the protective cover on the soil surface.  Trough proper land management, wind erosion accelerated by human activities can be reduced to acceptable levels.  Wind erosion is a major problem in New Mexico.  The 1992 National Resources Inventory conducted by USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service found 58% of the cropland, 48% of the rangeland, and 12.8% of the pastureland eroding above T.

Soil erosion removes not only the soil resource, but also organic matter and nutrients. Over time, eroded soils provide less rooting area, store less soil moisture, and provide lower crop yields and reduced crop quality.

This guide is designed to provide an understanding of the wind erosion process, to provide a consistent methodology to estimate wind erosion, and provide an understanding of how conservation practices reduce wind erosion.  This guide is to be used to develop resource management systems that promote the sustainability of the soil resource.  New Mexico will now use the Wind Erosion Equation (WEQ) Excel Spreadsheet to run the management period method of WEQ.  It contains circular 2 updates to model.  We no longer need to use the Fuller/Pfeiffer table to adjust the output.