N RANCHING
atural Resources Getting Things Done for 75 Years
From its inception, the Texas State Soil and Water Conservation Board has relied on local leadership to achieve local results. By Ellen H. Brisendine
T
HE TEXAS STATE SOIL AND WATER CONSERVATION BOARD (TSSWCB) celebrates 75 years of service this year. Based in Temple, this unusual state agency
combines a tremendous amount of technical expertise in natural resources management with very strong local control over the selection and funding of con- servation projects. They are looking for the next generation of ranchers
and natural resources managers to serve as volunteer leaders to help accomplish the agency’s mission to work “in conjunction with local soil and water conservation districts to encourage the wise and productive use of natural resources.” According to the Agriculture Code of Texas, under
Title 7, Chapter 201, Subchapter A, “it is the policy of the legislature to provide for the conservation of soil and related resources of this state and for the control and prevention of soil erosion, and thereby to preserve natural resources, control fl oods, prevent impairment of dams and reservoirs, assist in maintaining the navigability of rivers and harbors, preserve wildlife, protect the tax base, protect public land and protect and promote the health, safety, and general welfare of the people of this state, and thus to carry out the mandate expressed in Article XVI, Section 59a, of the Texas Constitution. It is further declared as a matter of legislative intent and determination of policy that the State Soil and Water Conservation Board is the state agency responsible for implementing the constitutional provisions and state laws relating to the conservation and protection of soil resources.” The TSSWCB came out of the horrible devastation
of the 1930s, also known as the Dust Bowl years. Eco- nomic depression gripped the country and, according to Historian Dan K. Utley, who wrote Plowing New Ground to document the 75th anniversary of TSSWCB, drought gripped every state except Maine and Vermont at the same time as the Great Depression. An excerpt from Utley’s book describes the time.
“Dust clouds boiled up, ten thousand feet or more in the sky, and rolled like moving mountains — a force of their own. When the dust fell, it penetrated everything:
54 The Cattleman December 2014
hair, nose, throat, kitchen, bedroom, well… The eeriest thing was the darkness. People tied themselves to ropes before going to a barn just a few hundred feet away, like a walk in space tethered to the life support center.” The “black blizzards” cut away topsoil and left
behind useless land. It was reported that on April 14, 1935, a dust storm “carried twice as much dirt as was dug out of the earth to create the Panama Canal. The canal took seven years to dig; the storm lasted a single afternoon.” Conservation of natural resources became a national
priority, but Texas farmers and ranchers resisted any programs that dictated procedures to them. Instead, after considerable debate and discussion, the leading landowners and thinkers of the time set up local soil and water conservation districts around the state. Rusty Ray, public affairs specialist at TSSWCB says, “This was back when agriculture was king. It was all locally led. The folks in that county were dealing with the issues in that county. Today, the folks on that soil and water conservation district board are elected by the landowners in that county. It is in our legal code to operate this way.”
Not a secret anymore As you can see from the excerpt from the Texas
Agriculture Code, the TSSWCB is to Texas what the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) is to USDA. It is a state agency which, with local direction, provides matching dollars and technical expertise in areas of water quality management plans, water sup- ply enhancement, fl ood control, conservation grants, management of total maximum daily loads of water pollutants, the control and abatement of nonpoint source pollution, and many more projects. Participation in all TSSWCB conservation work is
voluntary on the part of landowners. The state offi ce based in Temple works directly with the local district boards to implement cost-share programs. The TSSWCB is governed by a 7-member board. Five of the members are elected from the local district boards and 2 are ap- pointed by the governor.
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