2010 marks the 75th anniversary of the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and the beginning of the federal commitment to conserving natural resources on private lands. Originally established by Congress in 1935 as the Soil Conservation Service (SCS), NRCS has expanded to become a conservation leader for all natural resources, ensuring private lands are conserved, restored, and more resilient to environmental challenges, like climate change.

In California, the Golden State was changed forever by the Dust Bowl of the 1930s when an estimated quarter million refugees sought a new life here. Despite significant initial hardship most of these newcomers persevered and eventually added to the rich tapestry of California’s culture and population.

The History of NRCS and Federal Conservation Programs in California

• Early 1930s: California was changed forever by the Dust Bowl of the 1930s when an estimated quarter million citizens sought a new life here. Despite significant initial hardship most of these newcomers persevered and eventually added to the rich mosaic of California’s culture and population.



• 1933: On September 13, the Soil Erosion Service (SES) was formed in the Department of the Interior, with Hugh Hammond Bennett, considered the Father of Soil Conservation, as chief.



• Nov. 9, 1934: The Berkeley Daily Gazette runs headline: "Corralitos Project Third in State," referring to one of the 51 soil erosion projects authorized in the U.S. and approved by SES. The Corralitos Project covered 67,000 acres and 500 growers in Santa Cruz County promised to participate.



• In 2008, one of the structures in an original project, installed in 1935, was repaired using the modern-day Environmental Quality Incentives Program. Other 1930s-era projects have been repaired using an older version of EQIP, the Agricultural Conservation Program, and also through emergency funds made available following the Loma-Prieta Earthquake.



• 1935: University of California at Berkeley Economist Paul Taylor notes a shift in the make up of migrant workers in California’s agricultural fields - the harvesters, historically Mexican, Filipino and single white men, were increasingly comprised of white families. Most of these families came from Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas and Missouri. Taylor saw works by photographer Dorothea Lange and recruited her to work with him on reports of the conditions of migrant agricultural workers, later marrying in 1935. Their data helped to get state and federal relief funding for housing for farm workers.



• With the passage of the Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act of 1935, SES was transferred to the Department of Agriculture on March 23. Shortly thereafter, SES was combined with other USDA units to form the Soil Conservation Service (SCS).



• In California, SCS agronomists, foresters and engineers supervise the 10 Civilian Conservation Corps’ (CCC) work projects and camps in California: Placerville, Sebastapol, English Hills, Corralitos, Arroyo Grande, Lompoc, Las Posas, Palos Verdes, Aliso Creek and Vista Creek. California and Nevada comprise SCS Region 10, supervised out of Santa Paula, Calif., by Harry Reddick.



• While the erosion and dust storms of the Plains are legendary, few people today realize the extent of erosion damage occurring here in California, especially on the Central Coast. SCS soil surveys describe eroded land conditions in the Carpenter Canyon/Poorman Canyon area. The CCC was brought into areas to stabilize the hills, which had often lost their fertile soil due to erosion and poor farming practices.



• Soil survey mapping was already happening in USDA but with the birth of SCS, soil surveys came to the new agency with a change in focus to reflect the need for getting practical on-farm information rapidly. This resulted in Farm Conservation Mapping, a system favored by Hugh Hammond Bennett. Soil scientists would rapidly map a ranch or farm, obtaining soil properties such as slope and surface texture that were important mostly for erosion control. Publication was not necessary, just maps and a brief soil report handed to the conservationists who used made use of them immediately. Additionally, SCS was running CCC crews around California through 1942, when World War II shifted priorities, and the rapid soil survey information assisted in planning for their projects to keep the men working.





Migrant Mother: In 1936, photographer Dorothea Lange captured this iconic image of Florence Owens Thompson in California.

• 1936: Dorothea Lange inspires national and international sympathy for those displaced by California’s Dust Bowl in her photograph “Migrant Mother,” of Florence Owens Thompson, captured in Nipomo, Calif.



• The first California State Conservationist, John Barnes, establishes the SCS Regional Office in Berkeley. Subsequent State conservationists are Tom Helseth, Francis Lum, George Stone, Gene Andreuccetti, Pearlie Reed, Hank Wyman, Hershel Read, Jeff Vonk and Chuck Bell. Ed Burton is our current State Conservationist.



• 1937-1939: Franklin Roosevelt encouraged the establishment of soil conservation districts nationwide - these are known as Resource Conservation Districts (RCD) in California. The first known RCD in California was the San Mateo Resource Conservation District formed in 1939. RCDs work with government agencies, private organizations, schools and interest groups over the years to prioritize and address local natural resource concerns. They have had a diverse set of conservation successes in everything from conserving water and battling floods to managing forest fuel loads and educating citizens and students on improving habitat for plant, fish and wildlife species.



• 1938-1939: W.C. Lowdermilk embarks upon an 18-month global study of past and current civilizations to identify how the United States might successfully achieve a “permanent agriculture,” a predecessor to the term sustainability. Lowdermilk was a young UC Berkeley forester who became an assistant Chief for the new SCS and had become passionate about the need to protect soil and water while in China in the 1920s. He had watched the horrific tragedy of the massively silted Yellow River, overburdened with the erosive results of deforestation, which flooded villages and wreaked great famine.



• Lowdermilk records his travels and findings in his historic booklet, Conquest of the Land through 7,000 Years.



• 1939: California author John Steinbeck publishes Grapes of Wrath, his classic portrayal of the Joad Family, moving from Oklahoma to California’s Central Valley. The book seared into the collective public consciousness the ordeal suffered by those fleeing the Dust Bowl.

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