Excerpt
JSWC: What do you recall as the most important events leading to creation of the early conservation institutions and agencies—the Soil Erosion Service, conservation districts, and so on?
▪ HILL: Public interest in soil characteristics, productivity, and management was evident in 1903 when Hugh Hammond Bennett was employed by the U.S. Bureau of Soils and Chemistry to classify and map soils in southeastern states. This dynamic and eloquent scientist was the right man in the right place to father a nationwide conservation movement. His 1928 publication, “Soil Erosion—A National Menace,” awakened widespread public concern about this problem. Congress appropriated funds to conduct soil investigations in cooperation with a system of erosion research stations.
▪ FUQUA: In the 1930s, it became apparent that we were reaching some of the limits in the use and development of the nation's soil and water resources. Leaders, such as Walter L. Lowdermilk and Hugh H. Bennett, toured countries in Asia, Africa, and South America to study their successes and failures. I'm sure you are familiar with Lowdermilk's report Conquest of the Land Through 7000 Years. The book points out the many differences …
Footnotes
- Copyright 1984 by the Soil and Water Conservation Society
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