Excerpt
EROSION control and the management of nonnavigable surface water have been statutory responsibilities of soil and water conservation districts (SWCDs) in Wisconsin since 1937. In the intervening years SWCD officials in each county have directed a combination of local, state, and federal personnel who help private landowners implement conservation plans. The need for this effort today is no less than it was four decades ago.
The design and application of soil and water conservation practices is a never-ending process because of changes in the use of land. These changes in use, primarily the result of new technology and land tenure arrangements, have a corresponding impact on the way in which the land is (or needs to be) protected from abuse or misuse. Consequently, researchers work to develop conservation techniques that are compatible with various land uses. Drawing on this research, SWCD officials and their staffs revise conservation plans and make appropriate recommendations to their cooperating landowners (for a given time and place).
Dynamic is the term that best describes the land as well as the development and application of measures to insure its wise use. Stagnation, unfortunately, is the term that best applies in describing SWCDs. Whereas resource management …
Footnotes
Donald G. Last is a soil and water conservation specialist and associate projessor, Department of Community Affairs, University of Wisconsin Extension, Stevens Point, 54481.
- Copyright 1981 by the Soil and Water Conservation Society
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