Excerpt
SOME of the most difficult issues facing soil conservation policymakers today are institutional issues. How should governmental programs for soil conservation be organized? What should be the relationship between federal, state, and local agencies? How can programs of the many soil conservation agencies be coordinated?
Wisconsin addressed these issues in 1982 when it revised its soil conservation organizational structure.
Why coordination is needed
Soil conservation programs in every state involve many governmental agencies. At a minimum, these agencies include the federal Soil Conservation Service (SCS) and Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service (ASCS); the Cooperative Extension Service (CES), which has federal, state, and county components; state soil conservation and environmental protection agencies; local conservation districts; and county-level natural resource agencies. Many federal and state agencies also have county-level offices.
This network of agencies is complex and confusing to most citizens, to landowners, and even to the agencies themselves. The multiplicity of agencies carries with it great potential for duplication …
Footnotes
Jim Arts is a land resources specialist in the Agricultural Resource Management Division of the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection, P.O. Box 8911, Madison, 53708.
- Copyright 1984 by the Soil and Water Conservation Society
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