The Soil Erosion Service (SES) was founded in 1933 and 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. Soil Erosion Service was a U.S. federal government agency created by inder the Soil Conservation Act enacted on April 27, 1935. Soil Erosion Service 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 The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

. The Soil Erosion Service later became the Soil Conservation Service (SCS), and then the

Natural Resources Conservation Service Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), formerly known as the Soil Conservation Service (SCS), is an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) that provides technical assistance to farmers and other private landowners and ...

(NRCS).History of NRCS, ''nrcs.usda.gov''
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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

crop 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, Fiber, fibre, or fuel. When plants of the same spe ...

s). 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. Soil Erosion Service became a service under the

Department of the Interior The United States Department of the Interior (DOI) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the management and conservation of most federal lands and natural resources. It also administers programs relatin ...

in 1933. Hugh Hammond Bennett served as SES' first chief, serving until 1951. SES was transferred to the

Department of Agriculture An agriculture ministry (also called an agriculture department, agriculture board, agriculture council, or agriculture agency, or ministry of rural development) is a ministry charged with agriculture. The ministry is often headed by a minister f ...

in 1935. SES activities included educating landowners on how to farm land with severe erosion. SES also created demonstration projects showing best practices. Some of the labor for the demonstration projects was provided by the

Civilian Conservation Corps The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a voluntary government unemployment, work relief program that ran from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men ages 18–25 and eventually expanded to ages 17–28. The CCC was ...

(CCC), the

Civil Works Administration The Civil Works Administration (CWA) was a short-lived job creation program established by the New Deal during the Great Depression in the United States in order to rapidly create mostly manual-labor jobs for millions of unemployed workers. The j ...

(CWA), and the

Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; from 1935 to 1939, then known as the Work Projects Administration from 1939 to 1943) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to car ...

(WPA). After the

Flood Control Act of 1936 The Flood Control Act of 1936, , (FCA 1936) was an Act of Congress, Act of the United States Congress signed into law by President of the United States, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Franklin Delano Roosevelt on 22 June 1936.

, SES added

watershed management Watershed management is the study of the relevant characteristics of a watershed aimed at the sustainable distribution of its resources and the process of creating and implementing plans, programs and projects to sustain and enhance watershed f ...

projects. SES worked with tree nurseries to supply saplings and seeds. SES conducted soil control and conservation projects to combat erosion on government lands. SES initiated aerial photography programs to help in conservation and agricultural projects. SES also worked with the Agricultural Conservation Program. In 1952, US Soil Survey merged with SES.

Gallery

File:Bennett.jpg, Hugh Hammond Bennett served as the first chief of the Soil Erosion Service till 1951 File:US_Nations_First_Watershed_Project.jpg, US Nation's First Watershed Project by the Soil Erosion Service. From left to right, John Bollinger, a farmer and planner with the Soil Conservation Service, Dr. Hugh Bennett, retired chief of the U.S. Soil Conservation Service, Marvin Schweers, Wisconsin state conservationist, and Herbert Flueck, Minnesota state conservationist, photo take July 19, 1955. Hugh H. Bennett in Wisconsin, October 25, 1946.jpg, Chief Hugh H. Bennett, Mrs. Bennett, and regional conservator A.E. McClymonds view conservation work on the Frank Milsna farm, Manske Ridge on the Coon Creek Demonstration Project in Vernon County, Wisconsin, on October 25, 1946 Dust Bowl - Dallas, South Dakota 1936.jpg,

in Dallas, South Dakota in 1936 with buried farm machinery Dust storm in Spearman,Texas, Wea01422.jpg,

Dust storm A dust storm, also called a sandstorm, is a meteorological phenomenon common in arid and semi-arid regions. Dust storms arise when a gust front or other strong wind blows loose sand and dirt from a dry surface. Fine particles are transpo ...

Spearman, Texas Spearman is a city in and the county seat of Hansford County, Texas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 3,171. It is known for its collection of windmills from the J.B. Buchanan windmill collection. History Spearman ...

References

{{Soil science topics New Deal agencies Federal assistance in the United States 1930s in the United States

History

Gallery

See also

References