Washington Fields HALS

During the 1930’s, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) stationed at Leeds, Utah worked to construct a series of erosion control features to protect the Washington Fields Dam, just outside of St. George, Utah. Formerly owned by the BLM, the land is being transferred to a private developer. As part of this process, Io has been retained by the Washington County to document these historic features before they are destroyed. The features include large earthen berms, with rock spreader features, along with gully traps and small berms in series. All these features were designed and constructed to slow the movement of water and disperse it across the site, minimizing erosion.

The scale of the large earthen berms is quite impressive, some as wide as 16’ across, 80’ long and 6’ high. The rock spreader features consist of stacked stone retaining walls flanking the edges of the berm, fitted together with a great deal of craftsmanship. Leading out from the edge of each berm, a soldier course of field-stone set into the topsoil creates a reinforced lip to the retention feature, allowing water to spill over the sides of the berms in a slow, shallow, uniform flow.