Contributed
The History of NRCS – USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service
The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) draws on a long history of helping people help the land. For 90 years, NRCS and its predecessor agencies have worked in close partnerships with farmers and ranchers, local and state governments, and other federal agencies to maintain healthy and productive working landscapes.
NRCS was born out of troubled times — the Dust Bowl days of the 1930s. Dust storms ravaged the Nation’s farmland, stripping away millions of tons of topsoil and carrying it all the way to the Atlantic Ocean.
To help address this natural disaster, Congress passed the Soil Conservation Act of 1935 establishing the Soil Conservation Service (SCS), now named the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), as a permanent agency in the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
1920s–1930s Hugh Hammond Bennett and the Dust Bowl
The creation of the Soil Conservation Service (SCS) in 1935 represented the culmination of the efforts of Hugh Hammond Bennett, the “father of Soil Conservation” and the first Chief of SCS, to awaken public concern for the problem of soil erosion.
Bennett became aware of the threat posed by the erosion of soils early in his career as a surveyor for the USDA Bureau of Soils. He observed how soil erosion by water and wind reduced the ability of the land to sustain agricultural productivity and support rural communities who depended on it for their livelihoods.
He launched a public crusade of writing and speaking about the soil erosion crisis.
His highly influential 1928 publication, “Soil Erosion: A National Menace,” influenced Congress to create the first federal soil erosion experiment stations in 1929.
With the election of Franklin D. Roosevelt as President in 1932, conservation of soil and water resources became a national priority in the New Deal administration. The National Industrial Recovery Act (P.L. 73-67) passed in June 1933 included temporary funds to fight soil erosion. With this money, the Public Works Administration established the Soil Erosion Service (SES) in the Department of Interior with Hugh Bennett as Chief in September 1933. The SES established demonstration projects in critically eroded areas across the country to show landowners the benefits of conservation.
The Dust Bowl
Perhaps no event did more to emphasize the severity of the erosion crisis in the popular imagination than the Dust Bowl. Beginning in 1932, persistent drought conditions on the Great Plains caused widespread crop failures and exposed the region’s soil to blowing wind.
A large dust storm on May 11, 1934, swept fine soil particles over Washington, D.C. and far out into the Atlantic Ocean.
More intense and frequent storms swept the Plains in 1935. On March 6 and again on March 21, dust clouds passed over Washington and darkened the sky just as Congress commenced hearings on a proposed soil conservation law.
Bennett seized the opportunity to explain the cause of the storms and to offer a solution. He penned editorials and testified to Congress urging for the creation of a permanent soil conservation agency.
Soil Conservation Act
The Soil Conservation Act (Public Law 74-46) was passed by Congress and signed by President Roosevelt on April 27, 1935. It recognized that “the wastage of soil and moisture resources on farm, grazing, and forest lands… is a menace to the national welfare” and established the Soil Conservation Service (SCS) as a permanent agency in the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
Hugh Hammond Bennett Documentary
USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) presents a documentary on soil conservation pioneer Hugh Hammond Bennett, the history of the agency and the birth of the private land conservation movement in the United States.
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