Literature

Articles

Reports and Studies

Speeches and Testimony

Tributes

Technical Resources

Agencies and Organizations

Laws

Federal Laws

Federal Administrative Regulations/Guidelines

Awards

• Fellow Award, Soil Conservation Society of America (now the Soil and Water Conservation Society), 1965
• Distinguished Service Award, U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1973
• Presidential Rank Award, 1980
• Conservation Award, National Wildlife Federation, 1980
• National Award for Agricultural Excellence, Agricultural Marketing Association of America, 1985
• Hugh Hammond Bennett Award, Soil and Water Conservation Society, 1990
• Establishment of the Norman and Ruth Berg Fellowship by the Soil and Water Conservation Society, 1990
• Chief Emeritus Award, U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service, 1998
• Distinguished Service Award, National Association of Conservation Districts, 1998
• Honorary Doctor of Laws, University of Minnesota, 2000
• Award of Honor, Natural Resources Council of America, 2000
• Emeritus Board Member, Natural Resources Council of America, 2000
• Honorary Member, American Society of Agronomy, 2001
• Honorary Member, Soil Science Society of America, 2001

A Statement from Chief Lancaster, March 18, 2008

Today we lost a giant in the field of conservation with the passing of Chief Emeritus Norm Berg. As our Agency Chief from 1979 to 1982 — and for many years before and after — his steady hand helped both farmers and Presidents realize their visions for productive agricultural lands and a healthy environment. ...Chief Emeritus Berg remained until his death this week the acknowledged national expert on working lands conservation, and served to inspire multiple generations.... His generous insights and wise counsel will be sorely missed by those of us lucky enough to call him friend, Chief and mentor, and by the conservation community at large.

The Norm Berg Collection

Norm Berg was our link to the beginnings of agricultural conservation in the United States. His far-reaching career began in 1943 at the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Soil Conservation Service (SCS) — a relatively new agency formed in response to the Dust Bowl. Until his death on March 18, 2008, Berg remained a committed conservationist, serving as senior advisor for American Farmland Trust (AFT) and as the Washington, D.C., representative for the Soil and Water Conservation Society (SWCS).

Berg worked for the first chief of SCS, Hugh Hammond Bennett, and then steadily rose through the ranks. He became associate administrator in 1969 and served as Chief from 1979 until 1982. Upon retirement from public service, Berg became active with AFT and SWCS, both national, nonprofit conservation organizations. But Norm Berg's professional achievements did more than track an emerging movement — his contributions and leadership charted the movement's course.

The Norm Berg Collection assembles documents written by or about Berg as well as key laws and reports that represent milestones in agricultural conservation. At the collection's core are nearly 200 speeches and articles written by Berg from the mid-1960s to the late 1970s, when he was in leadership positions at the SCS. These papers demonstrate Berg's tireless commitment to farm and ranch land protection and his role in steering the agency and its partners toward a broader understanding of agricultural conservation. In addition, the collection includes examples of testimony delivered by Berg, federal laws, biographical sketches and, lastly, tributes prepared by esteemed colleagues and friends.

The collection was assembled by AFT with help from the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS, formerly SCS) and is housed within AFT's Farmland Information Center (FIC) Web site (www.farmlandinfo.org). The FIC is a fitting home for Berg's works because the federal law that authorizes the FIC — the federal Farmland Protection Policy Act — was one outcome of the National Agricultural Lands Study launched by USDA during Berg's term as SCS chief.

Our hope is that this collection will make Norm Berg's wisdom available to future farmland protection advocates and that it will be a fitting tribute to his invaluable and greatly respected leadership.

Norm Berg dedicated this collection to his family.
This project was made possible with support from the NRCS, SWCS, Anne Arundel Soil Conservation District and Norm Berg's friends and colleagues.

Tributes

"In 1979, I appointed Norm Chief of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Soil Conservation Service. He was the right man for the job. For more than 35 years he had worked in the SCS, meeting with and listening to farmers and giving them options on how to save their land. It was Chief Berg's personal approach and his meticulous attention to land use issues which helped to inspire the National Agricultural Lands Study that I commissioned during my presidency."
  - President Jimmy Carter, 1991

More Tributes