July 6, 2018
CapitalPress.com
9
The Soil Conservation Service was created in 1935
LAND from Page 1
New machinery made for
easier and faster farming, and
vast tracts of native grasslands
in the Plains — more than 100
million acres — were plowed
to plant crops, according to the
USDA.
But the stock market crashed
in 1929, and the Great Depres-
sion followed. Wheat prices
plummeted, and farmers in the
Plains plowed up even more
land to try to recoup their loss-
es. Prices dropped further, and
drought conditions set in, caus-
ing widespread crop failure.
Many farmers abandoned their
fields to find work elsewhere,
leaving behind a landscape that
had changed from protective
grassland to exposed soil.
The result was large dust
storms that blew exposed soil
as far as the East Coast. Ben-
nett seized the opportunity to
explain the cause of the dust
storms to Congress and push
for a permanent soil conserva-
tion agency. The Soil Conser-
vation Service was created in
1935, and Bennett served as its
first chief.
Its predecessor, the tem-
porary Soil Erosion Service
— also led by Bennett — had
established demonstration proj-
ects to show landowners the
benefits of conservation. As
early as 1935, USDA manag-
ers began to search for ways to
extend conservation assistance
to more farmers, believing the
solution was to establish dem-
ocratically organized soil con-
servation districts to lead the
conservation effort at the local
level.
To that end, USDA drafted
the Standard State Soil Con-
servation District Law, which
President Franklin Delano
Roosevelt sent to the governors
of all states in 1937. The first
conservation district was orga-
nized in the Brown Creek wa-
tershed of North Carolina that
same year.
In 1994, Congress gave
the Soil Conservation Service
a new name: the Natural Re-
sources Conservation Service.
Boots on the ground
Today there are nearly 3,000
conservation districts across
the country. And while their
mission has evolved to also
embrace water conservation
and water and air quality, they
remain focused on local boots-
on-the-ground efforts.
“Conservation
districts
played a pivotal role follow-
ing the Great Depression, and
they’re as relevant now as they
ever have been,” Brent Van
Dyke, president of the Nation-
al Association of Conservation
Districts, said.
The only way to feed a
growing population is to be
sustainable and good stewards
of natural resources, he said.
With a conservation district in
nearly every county and parish
in the U.S., districts are helping
1928 – Hugh
Hammond
Bennett
publishes
“Soil Erosion:
a National
Menace”
Hugh H. Bennett
influencing
the creation of the first federal
soil erosion experiment station.
1932 – Dust Bowl begins on the
Great Plains; Franklin Delano
Roosevelt is elected president;
soil and water conservation
becomes a national priority.
a long way toward ensuring
the land can be kept in farm-
ing, and can also be a con-
tributor to the ecosystem and
conservation values.”
Roughly one-quarter of all
land in Oregon — 16.3 mil-
lion acres — is in agricultural
production. Over the next 20
years, 10.5 million of those
acres will change ownership
as the average age of farmers
across the state rose to 60 in
2012.
Despite this trend, re-
searchers estimate that most
Oregon farms and ranch-
es do not have a succession
plan in place, and 84 percent
are sole proprietorships. That
leaves them vulnerable to be-
ing bought and converted to
non-farm uses, such as subdi-
visions, vacation homes and
industrial development.
In turn, McAdams said
environmental goals become
harder to achieve without
having larger blocks of open
space kept in agricultural pro-
duction.
“The commission has dis-
cussed at great lengths how
preventing fragmentation and
preventing non-farm uses on
For 80 years, the mission of Natural Resources Conservation Service
has been to help farmers take better care of their land.
Carol Ryan Dumas and Alan Kenaga/Capital Press
1938 – USDA makes SCS
responsible for administering its
drainage and irrigation
assistance programs, snow
survey, water supply forecasting
and programs.
an additional 63 watershed
projects.
1954 – Congress passes the
Watershed Protection and Flood
Control Act giving SCS final
watershed planning authority.
1944 – Congress passes the
Flood Control Act authorizing
SCS to begin work on its first 11
watershed projects.
1956 – USDA establishes the
Soil Bank Program and SCS
begins providing technical
assistance for the retired
cropland program.
1951 – Hugh Bennett steps
down as SCS chief and retires
the following year.
A dust storm during the 1930s.
1933 – Congress passes the
National Industrial Recovery Act
with funding to fight soil erosion;
the Soil Erosion Service is
established in the Department of
Interior with Hugh Bennett
appointed as chief.
1935 – Congress passes the
Soil Conservation Act creating
the Soil Conservation Service in
USDA; SCS begins expanding
its soil conservation program.
1957 – Congress approves the
Great Plains Conservation
Program authorizing SCS to
provide financial and technical
assistance for conservation in
the Plains states.
1952 – USDA merges the Soil
Survey into SCS, transfers most
of SCS’s research activities and
land utilization projects between
Agricultural Research Service
and Forest Service.
1962 – USDA initiates the
Resource Conservation and
Development Program allowing
SCS to work with landowners to
develop long-term economic
development plans for larger
project areas.
1953 – USDA eliminates SCS’s
regional offices and enhances
the technical role of state offices;
Congress passes the Agricultural
Appropriations Act authorizing
Large-scale soil erosion on a U.S. farm.
1920
1930
1932-38
farmers, ranchers and commu-
nities accomplish that.
Conservation districts work
to protect soil productivity,
water quality and quantity,
air quality and wildlife habi-
tat. They conserve and restore
wetlands, protect groundwater
resources and control soil ero-
sion. That work is done on fed-
eral, state and private land.
Districts bring people, agen-
cies, utilities and government
together to network to solve
natural resource issues identi-
fied at the local level, he said.
“We’re that conduit that
connects all the dots,” he said.
Each district is unique be-
cause natural resource issues
vary across the U.S. The dis-
trict board consists of locally
elected leaders who volunteer
their time. They identify con-
cerns through locally generated
consensus and work to address
those concerns, he said.
“Our strength is in that
locally led initiative,” Van
farmland can lead to conser-
vation outcomes,” McAdams
said.
The Agricultural Heri-
tage Program is intended
to complement Oregon’s
existing land use planning
laws. McAdams said Ore-
gon has lost 500,000 acres
from agricultural produc-
tion and 65,500 acres from
Exclusive Farm Use zon-
ing even since the state land
use program was adopted in
1974.
Members of the Agricul-
tural Heritage Commission
represent a range of interests,
from farm production to nat-
ural resources and wildlife.
The group met seven times
since Feb. 1 to write rules for
the program, most recently on
June 25 at Cascade Locks.
Public hearings are sched-
uled for 1-4 p.m. July 16 at
the Department of State Lands
building in Salem, and 11:30
a.m. to 2:30 p.m. July 17 at
the Harney County Commu-
nity Center in Burns.
Meta
Loftsgaarden,
OWEB executive director,
said she was impressed at how
much the commission was
able to accomplish in a short
period of time.
1985 – The Food Security Act
makes conservation a prerequi-
site for participation in USDA
programs and establishes the
Conservation Reserve Program.
1994 – Congress renames SCS
the Natural Resources Conser-
vation Service; NRCS assumes
management of the Wetland
Reserve Program.
Source: USDA NRCS
Photos courtesy USDA NCRS
1944
1940
1977 – Congress passes the
Clean Water Act, heightening
protection for wetlands, and the
Soil and Water Resources
Conservation Act requiring
USDA to monitor soil and water
resources on non-federal lands.
2005 – NRCS prioritizes nutrient
management plans; reducing
non-point source pollution, air
emissions and erosion control;
promoting habitat conservation.
1937 – USDA drafts the
Standard State Soil Conserva-
tion District Law. First soil
conservation district is organized
in the Brown Creek watershed of
N. Carolina.
1928
1972 – Congress passes the
Federal Water Pollution Control
Act amendments; makes water
quality and non-point source
pollution major areas of concern.
1996 – Congress creates the
Environmental Quality Incentives
Program, giving NRCS the
leadership role for conservation
programs.
1936 – SCS assumes responsi-
bility for performing surveys and
devising flood-control plans for
selected watersheds under the
Flood Control Act.
Roughly one-quarter
of Oregon land is in
agricultural production
HERITAGE from Page 1
History of soil and
water conservation
1970 – Congress passes the
National Environmental Policy
Act; requires agencies to
evaluate and report on environ-
mental impacts of their activities.
1951-57
1950
1962
1960
1970 1972 1977
1970
Dyke said.
Districts empower and
equip landowners with infor-
mation and the resources they
need to make decisions and
implement best-management
practices, he said. They work
with millions of landowners
and land managers nationwide
to provide technical and finan-
cial assistance.
“We solve major resource
concerns through this process,”
he said.
NACD believes in volun-
tary, incentive-based conserva-
tion with people agreeing on
what needs to be done to better
their community. Without con-
servation districts, much of the
conservation taking place today
wouldn’t happen, he said.
Mandatory federal policy
isn’t going to accomplish as
much as the voluntary efforts
led by districts that believe in
what they’re doing and want
to make things better for the
community, he said, adding
1980
1985
1994 1996
1990
that checking a regulatory box
doesn’t get to what caused the
issue or how to keep it from
happening again.
With the districts’ coordina-
tion, everyone has “skin in the
game,” Van Dyke said.
Partners, priorities
Districts are a government
body with elected supervi-
sors who lead conservation
efforts at the county level,
Steve Schuyler, NRCS district
conservationist for Twin Falls
County, said.
The supervisors tell NRCS
what the concerns are and to
prioritize them, he said.
“Everything we do meets
the priorities set up for us for
our district,” he said.
In Twin Falls County, for
example, the goals include sage
grouse conservation, improv-
ing water quality, managing
livestock waste, stream bank
restoration, soil health and
weed management, he said.
2005
2000
Today
2010
2020
“Districts are a critical link
in getting any conservation
done,” he said.
They work with local rec-
reation districts, cities, canal
companies and other agencies,
and those partnerships are cru-
cial, he said.
“Partnerships are how we
get projects implemented be-
cause our agency doesn’t have
the money or personnel to get a
project in,” Schuyler said.
One such partnership with
the Twin Falls Canal Company
focused on reducing sediment
and phosphates going into the
Snake River by building set-
tling ponds for irrigation runoff.
Another involved stockgrowers
and the U.S. Forest Service in-
stalling troughs and water lines
on grazing land to keep cattle
away from creek banks.
The district also partnered
with a neighboring conserva-
tion district and an irrigation
district to install pumps on the
Snake River to supplement ir-
rigation water in an area where
well levels were dropping.
“A lot of these projects
would not get done without our
district’s help,” Schuyler said.
Not only do the districts set
priorities, they also provide
funding for conservation proj-
ects, he said.
Nationwide, NRCS fund-
ing for conservation programs
totaled more than $4.8 billion
in 2017. Funding at the local
level varies from year to year,
depending on participation in
NRCS programs.
Revenue for the Twin Falls
conservation district in 2017
included $20,000 in feder-
al funding, $21,281 in state
funding and $8,281 in county
funding for a total of $49,531.
But grants from several sourc-
es, such as the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service and the Idaho
Department of Environmental
Quality, provides additional
funding for conservation proj-
ects.
Twin Falls County is home
to three conservation districts
— Twin Falls, Balanced Rock
and Snake River. Combined,
the districts received about
$1.02 million in federal and
state grants in 2017. With co-
operators contributing another
$774,000, about $1.8 million
was spent on conservation
grant projects in the county.
Conservation priorities have
changed over the decades, and
they will continue to change
as a growing population puts
more pressure on natural re-
sources, Schuyler said.
“There will always be con-
cerns about natural resources
and how to preserve and protect
them. The role of the districts
will continue to be relevant,
and maybe even more so, going
forward,” Schuyler said.
But they also face the threat
of lack of participation as farms
get larger and more demands
are placed on producers’ time,
he said.
“I hope they don’t go the
way of the Grange,” he said.
Beyond the farm
Conservation districts have
a unique role in communities,
Bill Bitzenberg, chairman of
the Twin Falls Soil and Water
Conservation District, said.
“Districts are where the rub-
ber meets the road. We are the
link between quality of life and
the community,” he said.
No one else is going to
make suggestions and provide
farmers and ranchers with as-
sistance to improve things for
the benefit of local communi-
ties. Districts link those private
landowners with agencies to
accomplish things that matter
to the community, he said.
They help farmers and
ranchers conserve water, im-
prove water and air quality,
reduce wind and water erosion,
reduce wildfires, improve wild-
life habitat and conserve spe-
cies.
Perdue: Work is underway on bilateral deals with Japan, India
TRADE from Page 1
Canada and Australia are
only too happy to take over
Washington’s big wheat mar-
ket in Japan, he said.
Squires said he’s con-
cerned about the U.S. drop-
ping out of the Trans-Pacific
Partnership trade agreement
and asked Perdue what, if
any, bilateral agreements the
administration is working on.
Perdue said he hasn’t giv-
en up on TPP, that the presi-
dent has said he may look at
TPP again but prefers bilat-
eral agreements. Perdue said
work is underway on bilater-
al deals with Japan and India,
and that India has been diffi-
cult in a lot of ways.
Michelle Hennings, exec-
utive director of the Wash-
ington Association of Wheat
Growers, and Matt Harris,
assistant executive director
of the Washington State Po-
tato Commission, also voiced
concerns about trade.
Perdue said he knows
there’s a lot of anxiety that
Canada, Mexico and China
are the three top trading part-
ners and that all are engaged
in U.S. trade disputes.
“I think the president
rightly called out China for
its bad acts and thefts of in-
tellectual property, even agri-
cultural products like reverse
engineering genetics in corn
seed,” he said. “Most farmers
Dan Wheat/Capital Press
U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., and U.S. Sec-
retary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue met with agricultural and
forestry leaders in Spokane July 2.
applaud him for that.”
U.S. Trade Representative
Robert Lighthizer has told
him, he said, that Mexico
should fall quickly into place
on North American Free
Trade Agreement revisions
as soon as that nation’s elec-
tion is over. Leftist Andres
Manuel Lopez Obrador won
the election over the week-
end.
“Both Mexico and the
U.S. understand the re-
lationship needs to work
out. We’ve benefited from
NAFTA and Mexico certain-
ly has,” Perdue said. “I hope
we can get Mexico done
quickly and then Canada will
follow. Public comments are
not always what happens in
private.”
McMorris Rodgers said
she’s joined Rep. Dan New-
house, R-Wash., in asking for
a doubling of federal Market
Access Program funding to
aid export promotions.
She also said House lead-
ership will keep its commit-
ment to Newhouse and others
to bring up a standalone ag
labor bill for a vote before the
August recess. It will address
E-verify (electronic verifica-
tion of employment eligibil-
ity), transitioning illegals in
the domestic workforce and a
more workable guestworker
program, she said.
Chris Voigt, executive
director of the state Potato
Commission, said an Obama
administration rule required
two under-served vegetables,
such as kale and spinach, be
served before potatoes could
be served in the USDA school
breakfast program. Schools
stopped serving vegetables
but there’s legislation pend-
ing to encourage USDA to
change the rule, Voigt said.
“I don’t need any encour-
agement to do that. This is
the first I’ve heard of that.
We will check on that and
get that kind of silliness out
of our regulations,” Perdue
replied.
State
Sen.
Mark
Schoesler, R-Ritzville and
a wheat farmer, said Con-
servation Reserve Program
priorities need more consis-
tency and greater flexibility
for grazing. The program
requires sagebrush be pre-
served one year and torn out
the next, he said. Perdue re-
plied environmental restric-
tions from other agencies
may come into play.
Duane Vaagen, owner
of Vaagen Brothers Lum-
ber, spoke about a propos-
al for a private program to
thin national forests. Mark
Benson, vice president of
PotlachDeltic Corp., one of
the nation’s largest lumber
producers, thanked Perdue
for Trump administration
regulatory relief and said
he’s happy the Timber In-
vestment Act is in the House
and Senate versions of the
Farm Bill.