History of Conservation

Father of Soil Conservation

The roots of Soil and Water Conservation Districts in the United States started to materialize in the mid-1930's. According to Milton S. Heath, Jr. (2004) the idea of conservation districts was a result of leadership from Dr. Hugh Hammond Bennett; who is credited as being the "Father of Soil Conservation." Dr. Bennett is a native of North Carolina.

Bennett's concern for the land and the mammoth losses of soil as a result of soil erosion dated back to 1905, when he and his soil survey partner, W.E. McLendon, developed a theory of sheet erosion, which is the insidious but large unseen washing away of thin layers of topsoil (Heath, 2004). That very soil survey was taken in Louisa County, Virginia and was instrumental in Bennett's understanding of the link between soil erosion and soil quality.

As a result of Bennett's passion for soil conservation he eventually acquired $160,000 of federal funding in 1930 to be used specifically for "soil erosion investigations" (Heath 2004). In 1933, the Soil Erosion Service (SES) was established within the Department of Interior, with Bennett service as the first director.

Dust Bowl

The creation of Soil and Water Conservation Districts in the United States can be attributed to the on-going work of Bennett in combination with a national crisis that resulted in the collision of the economy and natural resources.

On October 24, 1929 the stock market crashed, sending the country into an economic depression. This date would come to be known as "Black Thursday". The depression would last over a decade.

Then in 1931 a severe drought hit the Midwest and Southern Plains. As the crops died, the "Black Blizzards" began. Dust from the over-plowed and over-grazed land began to blow.

By 1932 the number of dust storms had increased significantly, with 14 reported storms. This continued with 38 reported storms in 1933.

In May of 1934 the great dust storms spreed from the Dust Bowl Area. The drought was the worst ever in U.S. history, covering more than 75 percent of the country and severely affecting 27 states.

In December 1934, the "Yearbook of Agriculture" announces, "Approximately 35 million acres of formerly cultivated land had essentially been destroyed for crop production... 100 million acres now in crops have lost all or most of the topsoil; 125 million acres of land now in crops are rapidly losing topsoil..."

Due to poor land management practices in the 'Dirty Thirties,' strong winds blew away "more than 480 tons of topsoil per acre, removing an average of five inches of topsoil from more than 10 million acres" (Property and Environmental research Center, 2013). To provide perspective, it is estimated that an inch of soil takes 500-1,000 years to form (Natural Resources Conservation Services, 2013). The devastation was vast. Donald Worster, a leading historian of the Dust Bowl, in his book Dust Bowl: The Southern Plains in the 1930's, makes reference to the fact that at no other point in history has there been "greater or more sustained damage to the American land" (Worster 1979)

In essence, the 'dust bowl' effect was caused by sustained drought conditions compounded by years of land management practices that left topsoil susceptible to the forces of the wind. "The soil, depleted of moisture, was lifted by the wind into great clouds of dust and sane which were so thick they concealed the sun for several days at a time" (NOAA.gov, 2013). As a result of these dust bowl natural disasters, the agriculture community suffered and in turn contributed to the economy's high unemployment levels, business and bank closures, and extreme hardship of the Great Depression. Continued poor land management practices increased agricultural vulnerability and simply exacerbated the difficulties.

Devastated by Drought

In May of 1934, the dust bowl was not just a concern to the Central and Great Plains. National leaders in Washington, D.C. and President Franklin Roosevelt recognized the need to address the growing problem (Egan, 2006). Leaders began to recognize that farmers struggling in a difficult economic climate increased crop yield in order to make ends meet. As a result, as supply and demand theory illustrated, high production drove prices down, yet farmers continued to increase production in an attempt to cover costs. Increased production lent itself to greater land management troubles and thus when the drought hit, both economic and land management problems were multiplied.

Certain members of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's administration realized the average American's fate was closely tied to the Dust Bowl farmers. Hugh Hammond Bennett gained the support of Congress with the help of a perfectly timed storm from the plains that hit Washington, D.C. just as Bennett was testifying before a congressional committee.

Experiencing a debilitation dust storm for the first time in the Capital, Congress was motivated to begin action on legislation to address national erosion problems through a focus on improving farming techniques.

Protect the Land

April 14, 1935 was designated as Black Sunday because the worst "black blizzard" of the Dust Bowl occurred, causing extensive damage.

The black and white photos on this page shows the effects of a dust blizzard. What appears to look like snow in actually dust from soil that has been deposited due to wind erosion.

On April 24, 1935 the U.S. Congress pronounced that soil erosion was "a national menace." Congress thereby declared soil and water conservation and wise land use a national policy and the U.S. Public Law 46, Soil Conservation Act of 1935 was passed. This Act established national policy, "To provide for the protection of land resources against soil erosion and other purposes" (Heath, 2004).

This Act further endorsed the Soil Erosion Service (SES) as a federal agency, resulting in a name chance to Soil Conservation Service (SCS). Eventually, the SCS would become a part of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and it would again be renamed in the 1990s as the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS).

Soil Conservation Service

Under the director of Bennett, the SCS developed extensive conservation programs that advocated the use of farming techniques such as strip cropping, terracing, crop rotation, contour plowing and cover crops; all of which aided in the retention of topsoil and preventing irreparable damage to the land