Windbreak Management

Windbreaks provide valuable benefits to homes, farms, and ranches throughout the Great Plains. Well-designed windbreaks can reduce soil erosion, protect livestock, increase crop yields, reduce home heating costs for rural farmsteads, improve outdoor comfort, control snow drifts, trap dust, and provide wildlife habitat. To learn even more detailed information about windbreaks and other agroforestry practices, you can visit the USDA National Agroforestry Center’s website.

As of 2021, windbreaks in Kansas covered 261,536 acres and stretched a total of 31,348 miles in length. These windbreaks are estimated to provide at least $100 million in value to Kansans every year, but many windbreaks are in declining or poor condition, putting those benefits at risk. However, programs exist to provide assistance to Kansas landowners with windbreak renovation, and windbreak establishment where appropriate.

• Windbreaks for Kansas
  Windbreaks need to be carefully designed to ensure they achieve desired outcomes.

  Learn How to Design an Effective Windbreak
• Windbreaks for Wildlife
  An important, yet often overlooked, benefit of windbreaks is wildlife habitat. Windbreaks can provide food, cover, and travel corridors.

  Learn How to Incorporate Wildlife Habitat into Your Windbreak
• Great Plains Initiative 2

  Agroforestry, or the intentional integration of trees and shrubs into farming systems, has a significant impact on temperature, soil erosion, and drought throughout the Great Plains.

  Read About Agroforestry and More Across the Great Plains

For more information on windbreak designs or management, contact your Rural District Forester.