Protect the Land
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).