Soil and Water Conservation District History

In the 1930s, the United States experienced a national environmental disaster known as the Dust Bowl. For decades leading up to the event, homesteaders in the Great Plains region of the United States plowed prairie grasses to grow wheat and other dry crops, destroying the grasslands.  By the 1930s, a combination of extreme drought and winds raised huge clouds of dust that reached vast areas of land across the United States. In response to this event, the United States Congress passed the Soil Conservation Act in 1935, which led to the adoption of Soil Conservation Laws in states around the country.  In 1937, Florida enacted the Soil and Water Conservation Law, establishing a state and local partnership - in the form of Conservation Districts - with the federal government to protect and restore soil and water resources, and to assist private landowners in adopting conservation practices. Per Florida Statute Chapter 582, any 10 percent of owners of land lying within the limits of the territory proposed to be organized into a district may file a petition with the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. The Broward Soil and Water Conservation District was chartered in 1964.

Sources: Library of Congress, USDA, Florida Statute Chapter 582