Natural Resources Conservation Service: Difference between revisions

The agency was founded largely through the efforts of Hugh Hammond Bennett, a soil conservation pioneer who worked for the [[United States Department of Agriculture|Department of Agriculture]] from 1903 to 1952.<ref name="Cook">{{cite web|last=Cook|first=Maurice|title=Hugh Hammond Bennett: the Father of Soil Conservation|url=http://www.soil.ncsu.edu/about/century/hugh.html|work=Department of Soil Science, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences|publisher=North Carolina State University|access-date=30 September 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720122812/http://www.soil.ncsu.edu/about/century/hugh.html|archive-date=20 July 2011}}</ref> Bennett's motivation was based on his knowledge of the detrimental effects of soil erosion and the impacts on U.S lands<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/about/history/bennett.html |title=Biography of Hugh Hammond Bennett |publisher=NRCS |access-date=2008-01-10 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071227103851/http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/about/history/bennett.html |archive-date=2007-12-27 }}</ref> that led to the Dust Bowl in the 1930s. On September 13, 1933, the Soil Erosion Service was formed in the [[United States Department of the Interior|Department of the Interior]], with Bennett as chief.  The service was transferred to the Department of Agriculture on March 23, 1935, and was shortly thereafter combined with other USDA units to form the Soil Conservation Service by the [[Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act]] of 1935.<ref>Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act, P.L. 74-46, {{USStat|49|163}}, {{USC|16|590(e)}}, April 27, 1935.</ref><ref name="archives">{{cite web |url=https://www.archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/114.html |title=Records of the Natural Resources Conservation Service |publisher=[[NARA]] |access-date=2008-01-10 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071207195045/http://www.archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/114.html |archive-date=2007-12-07 }}</ref>

The SCS was in charge of 500 Civilian Conservation Corps camps between 1933 and 1942. The primary purpose of these camps was erosion control.<ref>[http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1586.html Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC).] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130530223246/http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1586.html |date=2013-05-30 }} ''U-S-History.com'', Online Highways LLC. Retrieved July 27, 2014.</ref> In the 1980s, there were around 3,000 local Soil Conservation Service districts throughout the United States, each with elected executive boards.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |title=Assistance Available from the Soil Conservation Service |publisher=Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Agriculture |year=1988 |edition=Rev. Aug. 1988 |pages=4, 6-7}}</ref> These districts provided financial as well as technical support, such as assistance inventorying natural resources, to land owners in their conservation efforts upon request.<ref name=":0" />

Bennett continued as chief until his retirement in 1952.<ref name="Cook"/>  As part of the Federal Crop Insurance Reform and Department of Agriculture Reorganization Act of 1994, the agency was renamed the Natural Resources Conservation Service during the tenure of Chief Paul Johnson.<ref name="archives"/><ref>Federal Crop Insurance Reform and Department of Agriculture Reorganization Act of 1994, {{USStat|108|3223}}, October 13, 1994.</ref>

[[Wetland Reserve Enhancement Partnership]] (WREP) is part of the [[Agricultural Conservation Easement Program]] (ACEP), focusing on wetland conservation.  

 

* State agencies

* county and local governments,  

* non-governmental organizations, and  

* American Indian tribes to leverage resources for high-priority wetland projects.