Left to Right:  Darrell Oxley, Dana Hart, Derrick Smith, Geralyn Bradley, Harold Heilman
 

The Formation of the SWCD

On May 9th, 1951, Warrick County was granted a Certificate of Organization, creating a soil conservation district (SCD) at the request of the County's landusers, mainly the farming community. This was the result of the "Indiana Soil Conservation Districts Act" enacted in 1937 by the General Assembly in response to President Franklin Roosevelt's request that states provide legislation, patterned after a standard recommended law, to set up districts as legal units of government to administer federal conservation programs at the local level.

This standard was developed at the urging of various governors and national legislators in the wake of the great "Dust Bowl" crisis of the early 1930s. The U.S. Department of Agriculture determined, with concurrence of the President and Congress, that a new unit of government would be needed at the local level to administer any federally supported soil conservation programs, thus were born the SCDs.

Over time, amendments to the Law added "water" to the district name, provided for local funding to districts, brought cities and towns into districts, renamed and expanded the State Soil Conservation Board, created IDNR's Division of Soil Conservation, (now under the Indiana Department of Agriculture), and spelled out the program responsibilities of each. The Warrick County SCD was changed to SWCD on October 18, 1960. The SWCD's mission has broadened in the past several years to include conservation education and technical assistance for all land uses, including development. Today, every county in the United States has an active SWCD to look out for the natural resources concerns of their citizens and governments.

The Warrick County SWCD is now in its 56th year of service to the County's stakeholders. A long range plan of action has been developed to identify problems and develop policy for conserving our soil and water resource base.

All programs and services of the Warrick County Soil and Water Conservation District are offered on a non-discriminatory basis without regard to race, color, national origin, religion, sexuality, age, gender, marital status, or handicap.

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