History of the Conservation Movement - Black Sunday

Black Sunday

April 14, 1935 was known as Black Sunday, the largest dust storm in history

In 1937 President Roosevelt wrote governors of all states recommending conservation district enabling legislation.

That year the newly created Utah Conservation District Act stated, "The Legislature finds and declares that the soil and water resources of this state constitute one of its basic assets and that the preservation of these resources requires planning and programs to ensure the development and utilization of these resources and to protect them from the adverse effects of wind and water erosion, sediment, and sediment related pollutants."

Today the SCS is known as the Natural Resource Conservation Service, and soil conservation districts are known just as conservation districts, because their focus has expanded beyond soil conservation, to address the natural resource needs of the communities in which they reside.

After passage of the Utah Conservation District Law Act, local communities held public votes to establish local Conservation Districts. Once established, Districts began to carry out projects and provide the local direction for the Soil Conservation Service programs. The SCS would not provide assistance to local landowners, unless there was a soil conservation district through which the SCS could operate.

In Utah 38 Conservation Districts cover all geographic regions of the state. Nationwide, there are over 3,000 Conservation Districts.