After attending the awards ceremony honoring winners of the Lenoir Soil and Water Conservation District on May 12, I left the ceremony with a desire to learn more about the practice of conservation and its history in North Carolina. Despite the push for many years to add industrial and manufacturing facilities to our state economy, the Number 1 industry in North Carolina is still agriculture.

Conservation efforts generally focus on traditional agriculture and natural resource concerns. These concerns include erosion control, sedimentation, water and soil quality, wildlife, and animal waste management. However, emerging technologies related to biofuels, carbon sequestration, and methane recovery have broadened conservation efforts across the state.

Since North Carolina’s population is one of the fastest-growing in the nation, conservation issues have become increasingly important. Over the past 10 years, this state has lost more than 1 million acres of farm and open land. Each day nearly 400 acres are converted into roads, subdivisions, and shopping centers. 

Growing population and rapidly changing land use increase pressure on natural resources. Habitats and ecosystems disappear. Water supplies face increasing demands. North Carolina’s 96 soil and water conservation districts exist to assist landowners by encouraging them to adopt best practices in managing agricultural and non-agricultural lands.

After all, the water we drink comes from our watersheds, and much of the food we eat grows in our soil. Conscientious management of soil and water resources impacts the future of us all.

The history of conservation in North Carolina centers on one visionary. Hugh Hammond Bennett, known as “the father of soil conservation,” was a North Carolina native from Anson County. Through his efforts, North Carolina created the first conservation district in the nation.

Before Franklin D. Roosevelt became the U.S. President, Bennett had already begun his campaign to preserve the soil through reforming farming practices. He joined the Department of Agriculture in the early 1900s.

Bennett sought to address problems of land depletion largely created by the 1909 announcement by the Bureau of Soils that “[t]he soil is the one indestructible, immutable asset that the nation possesses. It is the one resource that cannot be exhausted; that cannot be used up.” Throughout his career, Bennett worked to prove just how wrong this statement was.

In 1933 Bennett became director of the newly-formed Soil Erosion Service. That government agency sought to combat erosion caused by dust storms by reforming farming methods. He was adamant about the need for reform. He called for “a tremendous national awakening to the need for action in bettering our agricultural practices.”

Although his criticisms of Dust Bowl farming techniques incensed many farmers, Bennett saw his reforms as essential to avoid similar catastrophes in the future. In the early 1930s, the extent of the damage inflicted on the southern plains by drought and dust storms received little noticed outside of the region. The nation, led by the newly elected Franklin D. Roosevelt, was desperately trying to help the nation recover from the shock of the Great Depression.

Most citizens were too worried about getting food on their plates to even think about the plight of farmers in the Great Plains. However, certain members of Roosevelt’s administration realized that the average American’s fate was closely tied to that of Dust Bowl farmers. A dust storm that hit Washington, D.C. convinced Congress to put its weight behind the Soil Conservation Act of 1935.

That act focused on improving farming techniques. A key element of the SWCD movement was the notion of voluntary compliance. American farmers were – and are – an independent breed of people. Officials understood farmers would never embrace mandatory regulations. Instead of forcing multiplied thousands of farmers to reform their practice, Bennett and his agency urged soil and water conservation districts to promote voluntary compliance. These efforts took the form of demonstrations, pilot projects, and cost-sharing programs to encourage the adoption of best soil management practices.

Bennett’s work continues today through the work of 96 soil and water conservation districts across this state. Local supervisors and conservation staff members are still working to protect the viability of our soil and water. Special thanks to Charles Hughes, Keith Tyson, Macon Wooten, Taylor Best, and Tara Brooke Hughes for their work as supervisors. I also appreciate the work of staffers Jesse Thompson and Eric Powell on behalf of our local district.

Mike Parker is a columnist for the Neuse News. You can reach him at mparker16@gmail.com.