Land Utilization Program (LUP) was a U.S. federal government agency that operated from 1934-1964. It was one of many

Alphabet agencies The alphabet agencies, or New Deal agencies, were the U.S. federal government agencies created as part of the New Deal of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The earliest agencies were created to combat the Great Depression in the United States a ...

, also called

New Deal The New Deal was a series of wide-reaching economic, social, and political reforms enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1938, in response to the Great Depression in the United States, Great Depressi ...

agencies. Land Utilization Program was created to combat the

Dust Bowl The Dust Bowl was a period of severe dust storms that greatly damaged the ecology and agriculture of the American and Canadian prairies during the 1930s. The phenomenon was caused by a combination of natural factors (severe drought) and hum ...

and the

Great Depression in the United States In the United States, the Great Depression began with the Wall Street Crash of October 1929 and then spread worldwide. The nadir came in 1931–1933, and recovery came in 1940. The stock market crash marked the beginning of a decade of high u ...

..NATIONAL GRASSLANDS MANAGEMENT, A PRIMER, Appendix C, Wooten, H. H. “The Land Utilization Program 1934 to 1964, USDA Agriculture, Economic Report No. 85 (1965)
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History

The

National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933 The National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933 (NIRA) was a US labor law and consumer law passed by the 73rd US Congress to authorize the president to regulate industry for fair wages and prices that would stimulate economic recovery. It also e ...

included funds to fight soil erosion. Causes of the dust bowl included concentrated agriculture practiced by so-called sodbusters (farmers who replaced fields of native grasses with

wheat Wheat is a group of wild and crop domestication, domesticated Poaceae, grasses of the genus ''Triticum'' (). They are Agriculture, cultivated for their cereal grains, which are staple foods around the world. Well-known Taxonomy of wheat, whe ...

and other

crops A crop is a plant that can be grown and harvested extensively for profit or subsistence. In other words, a crop is a plant or plant product that is grown for a specific purpose such as food, fibre, or fuel. When plants of the same species a ...

). Some of the

grassland A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominance (ecology), dominated by grasses (Poaceae). However, sedge (Cyperaceae) and rush (Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes such as clover, and other Herbaceo ...

was previously used for livestock. Most sodbuster activity came between 1905 and 1915. By the 1920s rainfall had decreased and crops failed. The soil turned to dust and formed the black blizzards of the

Great Plains The Great Plains is a broad expanse of plain, flatland in North America. The region stretches east of the Rocky Mountains, much of it covered in prairie, steppe, and grassland. They are the western part of the Interior Plains, which include th ...

for about 10 years. In 1929, the

Agricultural Marketing Act of 1929 The Agricultural Marketing Act of 1929, under the administration of Herbert Hoover, established the Federal Farm Board from the Federal Farm Loan Board established by the Federal Farm Loan Act of 1916 with a revolving fund of half a billion do ...

directed the

Federal Farm Board The Federal Farm Board was established by the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1929 from the Federal Farm Loan Board established by the Federal Farm Loan Act of 1916, with a revolving fund of half a billion dollars Herbert Hoover Herbert Clark Hoover (August 10, 1874 – October 20, 1964) was the 31st president of the United States, serving from 1929 to 1933. A wealthy mining engineer before his presidency, Hoover led the wartime Commission for Relief in Belgium and ...

United States Secretary of Agriculture The United States secretary of agriculture is the head of the United States Department of Agriculture. The position carries similar responsibilities to those of agriculture ministers in other governments The department includes several organi ...

, Arthur M. Hyde, formed a National Conference on Land Utilization in 1931 to study Dust Bowl problems and to make recommendations. In 1933, Hoover asked Congress to act on the recommendations. A National Planning Board was founded in the

Public Works Administration The Public Works Administration (PWA), part of the New Deal of 1933, was a large-scale public works construction agency in the United States headed by United States Secretary of the Interior, Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes. It was ...

on in July 1933. This Board became the National Resources Board by an

executive orders ''Executive Orders'' is a techno-thriller novel, written by Tom Clancy and released on July 1, 1996. It picks up immediately where the final events of '' Debt of Honor'' (1994) left off, and features now- U.S. President Jack Ryan as he tries ...

of President

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...

on June 30, 1934. In 1933, a Special Board of Public Works composed of members from Federal departments recommended a program for purchasing farmland with damaged soil. In February 1934, the

Agricultural Adjustment Administration The Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) was a United States federal law of the New Deal era designed to boost agricultural prices by reducing surpluses. The government bought livestock for slaughter and paid farmers subsidies not to plant on part ...

launched the program. In 1934, the recommendation for the government to purchase and develop 75 million acres of such land was adopted. Starting in 1934, the government acquired 11 million acres of

land from private owners for $47.5 million. The land was turned into federally managed grazing land. The Land Utilization Program managed these lands. LUP seeded and managed the grassland for 10 years. Lands were used for

pasture Pasture (from the Latin ''pastus'', past participle of ''pascere'', "to feed") is land used for grazing. Types of pasture Pasture lands in the narrow sense are enclosed tracts of farmland, grazed by domesticated livestock, such as horses, c ...

forest A forest is an ecosystem characterized by a dense ecological community, community of trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, ...

livestock Livestock are the Domestication, domesticated animals that are raised in an Agriculture, agricultural setting to provide labour and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, Egg as food, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The t ...

park A park is an area of natural, semi-natural or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and recreation or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. Urban parks are urban green space, green spaces set aside for recreation inside t ...

s, recreation, and

wildlife refuge A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, funga, or features of geolog ...

s. In total some 250 land utilization projects were created in 45 states. Parcels were purchased under the

Bankhead–Jones Farm Tenant Act of 1937 The Bankhead–Jones Farm Tenant Act of 1937 (P.L. 75-210) was passed on July 22, 1937, and authorized acquisition by the federal government of damaged lands to rehabilitate and use them for various purposes. Most importantly, however, the law a ...

, and the

Emergency Relief Appropriation Act of 1935 The Relief Appropriation Act of 1935 was passed on April 8, 1935, as a part of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal. It was a large public works program that included the Works Progress Administration (WPA), the National Youth Administration, ...

. The

Resettlement Administration The Resettlement Administration (RA) was a New Deal U.S. federal agency created May 1, 1935. It relocated struggling urban and rural families to communities planned by the federal government. On September 1, 1937, it was succeeded by the Farm S ...

was established by Executive Order, in 1935. LUP was transferred to the Resettlement Administration, with an initial allotment of $48 million for land purchase and $18 million to employ labor for development. In 1937, LUP was be under the

Bureau of Agricultural Economics The Economic Research Service (ERS) is a component of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and a principal agency of the Federal Statistical System of the United States. It provides information and research on agriculture and eco ...

. In 1938, LUP joined the Soil Conservation Service. In 1954 LUP moved under

United States Forest Service The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency within the United States Department of Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture. It administers the nation's 154 United States National Forest, national forests and 20 United States Natio ...

where it remained until the program ended in 1964.The land utilization program, 1934 to 1964: Origin, development, and present status, Agricultural economic report, January 1, 1965, by H. H Wooten

Gallery

1935 Planted Slash Pine on Dixon Memorial State Forest.jpg,

Slash Pine ''Pinus elliottii'', commonly known as slash pine,Family, P. P. (1990). Pinus elliottii Engelm. slash pine. ''Silvics of North America: Conifers'', (654), 338. is a Pinophyta, conifer tree native to the Southeastern United States. Slash pine is n ...

s in Dixon Memorial State Forest planted in 1935, under the Land Utilization Program Laura S Walker State Park.jpg, Trees in the Laura S. Walker State Park planted in 1937, under the Land Utilization Program Little Missouri National Grasslands.jpg,

Little Missouri National Grassland Little Missouri National Grassland is a National Grassland located in western North Dakota, United States. At , it is the largest grassland in the country. Enclaved within its borders is Theodore Roosevelt National Park with an additional , whic ...

form from failed farms and ranches under the Land Utilization Program Thunder Basin National Grassland (48431873601).jpg,

Thunder Basin National Grassland The Thunder Basin National Grassland is located in northeastern Wyoming in the Powder River Basin between the Big Horn Mountains and the Black Hills. The Grassland ranges in elevation from , and the climate is semi-arid. The Grassland provide ...

form from failed farms and ranches under the Land Utilization Program Land Utilization Program Headquarters.JPG, A Colorado Land Utilization Program Headquarters in Briggsdale, Colorado. Now a

National Register of Historic Places listings in Weld County, Colorado This is a list of the National Register of Historic Places listings in Weld County, Colorado. This is intended to be a complete list of the properties and districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Weld County, Colorado, United S ...

Dust Bowl - Dallas, South Dakota 1936.jpg,

in Dallas, South Dakota in 1936 with buried farm machinery

References

New Deal agencies Federal assistance in the United States 1930s in the United States

History

Gallery

See also

References