TY - JOUR T1 - Back to the future? JF - Journal of Soil and Water Conservation SP - 22A LP - 22A VL - 59 IS - 2 AU - Craig Cox Y1 - 2004/03/01 UR - http://www.jswconline.org/content/59/2/22A.abstract N2 - In the five years I have been executive director, I've been to Coon Valley, Wisconsin, three times. Not to pursue the wily trout, I hasten to add, but to learn from and celebrate an icon of the conservation movement—the Coon Valley watershed project. In 1933, a new U.S. federal agency called the Soil Erosion Service (SES) chose Coon Valley as the nation's first watershed project to demonstrate what a collective effort at soil conservation could accomplish. There was much to be done. Gullies dissected croplands, pastures were overgrazed, woodlands were eroded, floods were frequent, and trout had disappeared from sediment-choked streams. Technical and financial help came from the new SES, the University of Wisconsin, and the new agricultural research station in La Crosse, Wisconsin. A multidisciplinary cadre of technical staff set up shop in field offices in the watershed. Local bankers promoted the project and made loans to farmers. The Civilian Conservation Corps provided willing hands to get conservation on the ground. In just three years, over half of Coon Valley's farmers signed on as cooperators. Their five-year plans led to 12,000 acres of contour-stripped cropland, 128 … ER -