When was the soil conservation service formed

In , the agency assumed responsibility for performing surveys and devising flood control plans for selected watersheds under the authority of the Flood Control Act of P. As early as USDA managers began to search for ways to extend conservation assistance to more farmers.

They believed the solution was to establish democratically organized soil conservation districts to lead the conservation planning effort at the local level.

The first soil conservation district was organized in the Brown Creek watershed of North Carolina on August 4, Today, there over three thousand conservation districts across the country. Congress increased appropriations for soil conservation programs. During this time the number of soil conservation districts continued to increase, as did the number of cooperators working with SCS to develop conservation plans for their farms. Hugh Bennett stepped-down as Chief in and retired from federal service in Hugh Bennett recognized that successful soil and water conservation required addressing resource concerns at the watershed scale.

SCS organized its early demonstration projects on a watershed basis. With passage of the Flood Control Act of , SCS began watershed investigations to determine the most effective methods to control erosion and prevent floods. The Agricultural Appropriations Act of P. With the support of President Dwight D. Since , SCS, now NRCS, has constructed nearly 11, dams on some 2, watershed projects that continue to provide flood control, water supplies, recreation, and wildlife habitat benefits.

With arrival of another prolonged drought in the s Congress passed the Great Plains Conservation Program which focused financial assistance for conservation in the Plains states.

SCS provided financial and technical assistance to meet multiple objectives of conservation and economic stability. During this period, SCS also began to provide technical assistance for the Soil Bank Program which paid rental payments for retired cropland and provided financial incentives to farmers for planting protective cover crops. The agency began to emphasize rural development and recreation as conservation planning objectives. SCS also began to focus on providing recreational benefits with its projects.

SCS also began to become more involved in suburbanizing areas where farmland was being developed as commercial and residential areas.

These initiatives were part of a broader effort by the USDA to extend its services to all of American not just the parts that live in rural areas or engage in production agriculture. The s and s was a time of broad popular concern about the health of the environment. Expressed most prominently in the first Earth Day demonstration in , these concerns led to the creation of a national framework of environmental policies during that changed the way SCS put conservation on the ground.

A very early piece of environmental legislation. Business Operations continued as a separate unit in CaLM. Local Land Services is a regionally based NSW Government agency that works with farmers, landholders and the community on natural resource management, agricultural productivity and pest management.

Since the s we have transitioned into a fully commercial business. On April 27, Congress passed Public Law , in which it recognized that "the wastage of soil and moisture resources on farm, grazing, and forest lands.

In doing so, Congress reaffirmed the federal commitment to the conservation of the nation's soil and water resources, first made more than 80 years ago, that continues to this day.

The U. Department of Agriculture, the Soil Conservation Service, and the Natural Resources Conservation Service have issued a number publications on the origins and development of soil and water conservation over the years.