Around the country, there are many other scrap tire construction projects. For example, the U.S. Department of interior has used whole tires for 20 years at the Salton Sea for erosion and dams. In New Maxico, a 4,400-foot section of lake Carlsbad was stabilized againt erosion with tire bales. In this case the bales were covered with a thin layer of concrete for aesthetic purposes. More than 50,000 tires were used the build a 25-foot-high dam in Arkansas. California used 860,000 tires to fill in a freeway embankment. In Maryland, scrap tires have been used for playground structures and ground cover in seven state parks. Clearly, some people are begining to see the benefits of using scrap tires in a number of different ways.