Soil Conservation Act Of 1935
Normally I would championship an entry like this one with the electric current proper noun of the agency or park nether discussion. But today I've used the original name—Soil Conservation Service—because it represents more than direct the nature of the agency. Today, the agency is called the Natural Resource Conservation Service, a nice name but much more ambiguous than the original.
In the early decades of the 20th Century, American agriculture was developing rapidly, aimed at feeding a growing nation and supporting the food needs of servicemen fighting in Europe during World War I. Ane event was cultivating land that never should accept been farmed in the Great Plains; another was damage to the soils of farmland that was overused and improperly managed. Soil erosion was rampant and crop yields were declining.
A young North Carolina soil scientist, Hugh Hammond Bennett (1881-1960), saw the harm every bit he worked on soil surveys for the U.Due south. Department of Agriculture (USDA). When Bennett attended Teddy Roosevelt's 1908 Governors' Briefing on Conservation, he heard a presentation on soil deposition that cemented his "determination to pursue that subject field to some possible signal of counteraction."
Bennett wrote continually almost soil erosion in scientific journals and popular magazines, warning most the dangers of soil damage. He gained national attending when he co-authored a USDA bulletin, stating his opinion "that soil erosion is the biggest trouble confronting the farmers of the Nation…." At his urging, some funds were allocated from Franklin Roosevelt'due south New Deal programs to accost soil issues. The Department of the Interior created a small Soil Erosion Service in 1933 and put Bennett in charge. Bennett used the position to his advantage, lobbying Congress most soil. He was a compelling witness, in one case pouring h2o on a conference table to show Congress how soil erosion occurs.
When serious droughts created the Dust Bowl in the early on 1930s, Bennett pressed the demand for soil conservation. He testified before Congress in spring, 1935, while dust storms passed through Washington, DC, concealment the skies and clouding the congressional chambers. Then the biggest grit storm in history swept beyond the Great Plains on Apr xiv, causing many to believe that the finish of the world was upon them. He used these storms to argue his indicate—successfully. On April 27, 1935, President Roosevelt signed the Soil Conservation Human action, creating the Soil Conservation Service (SCS). Bennett became director, a position he held for the next 16 years and earning him the name "father of soil conservation."
The SCS began immediately to help farmers protect their soil. It offered expert advice and provided funding for soil protection actions like building farm ponds to enhance the water table and planting tree shelterbelts to tiresome down wind erosion. The piece of work was organized around "soil conservation districts," local groups fabricated upwardly of elected representatives of farmers, ranchers and timber owners. The operating scale of work was the pocket-size watershed, a concept that was meaningful for soil protection, logical to landowners and practical for funding.
In the 82 years since the agency's founding, the work has grown in both scope and calibration. Activities now address biodiversity conservation, recreational access, management of suburban watersheds and many other topics. Hence, in 1994, the agency's proper name changed to the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), designated every bit the primary point of conservation for USDA.
Today, NRCS has a approximately $v billion annual upkeep and employs about 12,000 people who work in 2900 offices around the country, generally focused on one or a few counties. Local conservation districts, which now have a diversity of names, number nearly iii,000, about one for every county in the nation. They are represented past the National Association of Conservation Districts, whose mission is "to promote the wise and responsible employ of natural resources for all lands by representing locally-led conservation districts and their associations through grassroots advocacy, didactics and partnerships."
Let'south give Hugh Hammond Bennett the concluding words: "Take care of the country and the country volition take intendance of you…."
References:
National Association of Conservation Districts. About NACD. Available at: https://world wide web.nacdnet.org/near-nacd/. Accessed Apr 9, 2019.
NRCS. Hugh Hammond Bennet. Available at: https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/item/national/about/history/?cid=stelprdb1044395. Accessed April 9, 2019.
NRCS. More than 80 Years Helping People Hel the Country: A Brief History of NRCS. Available at: https://world wide web.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/detail/national/about/history/?cid=nrcs143_021392. Accessed April 9, 2019.
Soil Conservation Act Of 1935,
Source: https://todayinconservation.com/2019/04/april-27-soil-conservation-service-created-1935/
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