Conservation History

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In 2007 Oklahoma celebrates its Statehood Centennial and the 70th Anniversary of the Conservation District Enabling Act. On this page the Conservation Commission will publish commemorative events celebrating Oklahoma's conservation contribution to the state and the nation! (Click here to read the Oklahoma Conservation District Act.)

Page numbers in parentheses are citations to the book "Out of the Dust - The History of Conservation in Oklahoma in the 20th Century," published by the Oklahoma Association of Conservation Districts in cooperation with the Oklahoma Conservation Commission and the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service.

YOU ARE INVITED TO PARTICIPATE! Conservation district directors and employees, USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service employees, and other interested individuals and organizations are invited submit items for "This Week in Conservation History." All items submitted will be subject to the discretion of the editor. Please include as much information as possible including day, month and year, full names of individuals or organizations involved and citation or contact information for questions by the editor. Send items by email to Mark.Harrison@conservation.ok.gov.

December 23, 1980. West Caddo Conservation District formed. Originally part of South Caddo Conservation District whose office is in Anadarko, it had operated with an office in Fort Cobb and a board of associate directors since 1946.

November 9, 2000. President Bill Clinton signs Public Law 106-472, the "Watershed Rehabliation Amendments," authorizing a program to rehabilitate America's small watershed upstream flood control dams and structures.

October 20, 1994. The U.S. Soil Conservation Service is renamed as the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service. 

September 19, 1956. Kingfisher County Conservation District was the last to form in Oklahoma, although there was still land in the state not incorporated in districts. There would also be districts divide into new districts or consolidate.(p. 17)

August 15, 1933. Sec. of Agriculture Henry Wallace forwarded a six-page U.S. Forest Service report to the President entitled Forest Planting Possibilities in the Prairie Region. The report recommended that forest strips, 100 feet wide and not more than one mile apart, be planted in a 100-mile wide belt from the Canadian border to the Gulf of Mexico.

August 4, 1937. The first conservation district in the nation was chartered in Anson County, N.C., birthplace of Hugh H. Bennett.

August 2, 1945. Clarence A. Ramming of Jay was hired as executive director of the State Soil Conservation Board.

July 23, 1945. THe State Soil Conservation Board held its first meeting at the state Capitol. It was a joint meeting with with members of the former Soil Conservation Committee and the Attorney General. Gov. Robert S. Kerr attended a portion of the meeting and stated that, in his opinion, the board was one of the most important in the state.

July 3, 1998. Over 700 people gathered at the Wawshita County Court House for the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the first small watershed upstream flood control dam in the nation, Cloud Creek Site 1.

May 19, 1982. At the dedication of the "last acre surveyed" at a Soil Survey Jubilee, OCC Executive Director Leonard Solomon officiated as a container with soil from each of Oklahoma's conservation districts was buried in Muskogee County Conservation District, at the site of the last acre to be surveyed.

May 11, 1934. The first major dust storm in the history of the country had blown a dense cloud of dust from the Great Plains to the eastern seaboard.

April 28, 1945. Governor Robert S. Kerr signed Senate Bill No. 78 creating the State Soil Conservation Board, replacing the State Soil Conservation Committee, and locating its office in Oklahoma City. The board would be made up of five district supervisors who derived the major portion of their income from farming or ranching.

April 27, 1935. The President signed a bill by Rep. John J. Dempsey of New Mexico and passed by both houses of Congress without a dissenting vote to establish the Soil Conservation Service(SCS) as a permanent agency in USDA.

April 15, 1935. The term “Dust Bowl” first appeared the day after Black Sunday in an article by Robert Geiger, an Associated Press reporter traveling through the region. The U.S. Soil Conservation Service later used the term on maps to describe the western one-third of Kansas, southeastern Colorado, the Oklahoma Panhandle, the northern two-thirds of the Texas Panhandle and northeastern New Mexico. Others included an even larger area when describing the Dust Bowl — an area that covered one-third of the Great Plains, close to 100 million acres.

April 15, 1937. Oklahoma became the second to pass, but the first to enact soil conservation district act. Governor E.W. Marland signed Oklahoma’s enabling act on that day, effective immediately. Although Arkansas had passed its law earlier, in February, it did not become effective until June 10, 1937.

April 15, 1881. The birth date of Hugh Hammond Bennett, “Father of Conservation” and first head of the U.S. Soil Conservation Service. (Deceased July 7, 1960.)

April 14, 1935. “Black Sunday.” A huge black cloud of dust swept across western Oklahoma blocking out the sun.

March 31, 1933. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Emergency Conservation Work Act into law, creating the Civilian Conservation Corps.

March 17, 1995, and March 18, 1935. On March 17, 1995, a celebration was held near Mangum, Okla., to commemorate the nation’s oldest living shelterbelt. George R. Phillips, Oklahoma’s first state forester, had supervised the original planting on March 18, 1935.

March 6, 1935. Hugh H. Bennett was testifying before a Congressional subcommittee of the Senate Committee on Public Lands. The subcommittee was reviewing a proposal to establish a permanent soil conservation agency. Bennett had been told by aides that a dust storm was building up and moving eastward. It was said that Bennett stalled his appearance before the committee until the dust storm reached the city. As he spoke about how 300 million tons of soil had been blown off Great Plains land in the 1934 storm, the sky darkened and for the second time in 12 months soil from the Great Plains was settling on the streets of Washington, D.C., Bennett was said to have thrown open the window curtains during his testimony to show the Congressmen the dust from the Great Plains hitting the windows. This dramatic presentation and incident undoubtedly helped crystallize support for the proposed agency.

February 2005. Billy Ray Wilson, Haskell County Conservation District director, began serving a two-year term as president of the National Association of Conservation Districts.

February 29, 1961. Hershel Burrus left his post as executive director of the State Soil Conservation Board (later to become the Conservation Commission).

February 28, 1973. Custer County Soil Conservation District was organized. It had originally been a part of the Upper Washita Conservation District. (Page 17)

February 27, 1937. President Franklin D. Roosevelt sent a letter to every state governor encouraging them to enact a law allowing the creation of conservation districts. Included with the letter was a model conservation district law.

February 25, 1947. The National Association of Soil Conservation Districts (later to become the National Association of Conservation Districts) held its first annual meeting. (Page 45)

February 19, 1940. Shawnee Conservation District received its certificate of incorporation. (Page 23)

February 19, 1940. Cleveland County Conservation District received its certificate of incorporation. (Page 23)

February 16, 1929. Congress approved the Buchanan Amendment on February 16, 1929, that began a nationwide effort to protect public and private lands from erosion damage. The Amendment appropriated $160,000 for establishment of 10 erosion control experiment stations. The first, the Red Plains Station near Guthrie, Oklahoma, was established in 1929. (Page 10)

February 15, 1951. The U.S. Secretary of Agriculture placed the Forest Service and Soil Conservation Service under the supervision of the Assistant Secretary of Agriculture, as well as the Agricultural Conservation Program (ACP), the department¿s cost-share program for soil and water conservation.

February 11, 1941. Creek County Conservation Distinct began operation. (Page 23)

February 3, 1939. North Fork of Red River Conservation District began operation. (Page 23)

February 2, 1939.  The first day after its formation, the Oklahoma Soil Conservation District Supervisors Association adopted a constitution. Nolen J. Fuqua, a Stephens County Soil Conservation District board member, was elected as the first president.

February 1, 1939. The Oklahoma Soil Conservation District Supervisors Association (now the Oklahoma Association of Conservation Districts) was formed. Action to form the organization started at a training session for district supervisors held by the State Soil Conservation Committee. The session was held to train people to be more effective district supervisors. Nolen J. Fuqua, of Duncan, a Stephens County Conservation District supervisor, stated that most of the time was spent ¿being lectured by Washington bureaucrats.¿ The patience of the supervisors began to run thin during the long sessions. They wanted action, not just talk. (Page 36)

January 1999. The Oklahoma Conservation Commission approved state guidelines for the state Cost-Share Program that had begun operation in August 1998.

January 1946. A group of district officials from 17 states, including Nolen Fuqua of Stephens County Conservation District, Okla., assembled in Chicago to begin putting together a national organization. In two days the group organized what they called the National Association of Soil Conservation District Governing Officials, adopted a constitution and elected temporary directors and officers. They adopted the slogan, ¿Nail Down the Topsoil.¿ The 17 men went back home and began gathering support and collecting dues from districts. The first annual meeting was held in Chicago on February 25, 1947. The organization grew into what is today the National Association of Conservation Districts (NACD).

January 31, 1939. Little River received its certificate of incorporation. The district began operations November 27, 1939.

January 27, 1986. Mason Mungle became executive director of the Oklahoma Conservation Commission, filling the vacancy left by Leonard Solomon who retired October 31, 1985. Mr. Mungle served until October 17, 1997.

January 27, 1947. Pawnee County Soil Conservation District (now Pawnee County Conservation District) received its certificate of incorporation. The district began operation April 30, 1948

Jan. 24, 1946. Adair County Soil Conservation District (now Adair County Conservation District) began operation.

January 16, 1961. The final portion of Oklahoma land came within conservation district coverage when the last portion of Beaver County consolidated into the existing Beaver County Conservation District. p 17

January 16, 1950. Grady County Conservation District began operation.

January 16, 1938. Earl Lowe began as executive secretary of the State Soil Conservation Committee, the precursor of the Oklahoma Conservation Commission. (page 30)

January 15, 1946. Nowata County Soil Conservation District (now Nowata County Conservation District) received its certificate of incorporation. The district began operation December 19, 1946.

January 12, 1971. Leonard Solomon became executive director of the Oklahoma Conservation Commission following Marvin Emerson. Mr. Solomon served until October 31, 1985. (page 30)

January 9, 1942. South Caddo County Soil Conservation District (now South Caddo Conservation District) received its certificate of incorporation. The district began operation November 16, 1943.

January 5, 1939. LeFlore County Conservation District (originally named East Central Oklahoma Soil Conservation District) began operations. (page 22)

January 2, 1946. Deer Creek Conservation District began operations. (page 24)

January 1, 1972. Hampton Burns became state conservationist for Oklahoma for the U.S. Soil Conservation Service.

January 1, 1954. Ray Walker became state conservationist for Oklahoma for the U.S. Soil Conservation Service.

January 1, 1945. Cimarron Valley Conservation District began operations. (page 23)

January 1, 1941. Craig County Conservation District received its certificate of incorporation. The district began operations March 4, 1941. (page 23)