A Conservation Legacy Reaching Back to 1935
 

This past year we celebrated the 75th anniversary of the establishment of the USDA Soil Conservation Service (SCS)/Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and the continuation of our national commitment to conservation on private working lands.

This impressive conservation legacy would not be possible without our many conservation partners in Utah. From our beginning 75 years ago, our conservation partnership has matured to the point that we have achieved some historic milestones in Utah conservation. For example, since the 2002 Farm Bill we have obligated more than $142 million on 1.7 million acres under 3,720 contracts. Check out this Web site to learn more about other NRCS conservation achievements.

Our services over the years have come in many forms: erosion control demonstrations, one-on-one conservation planning and design assistance, soil surveys and plant materials, range management planning, watershed level planning and flood control, emergency watershed protection, and more recently, Farm Bill-based conservation programs.

As the new State Conservationist in Utah, I want to make sure we continue this remarkable legacy, made possible by professional NRCS employees working with dedicated conservation partners and motivated Utah farmers and ranchers.

The founder of our agency, Hugh Hammond Bennett, often said, “If you take care of the land, the land will take care of you.” The land has indeed been taking care of us and we are grateful and humbled by the opportunity to work with all our friends in Utah to put sound conservation on the ground for many years to come.

Sincerely,

DAVID BROWN
State Conservationist

These amazing facts show how far we’ve come with conservation work in Utah over the past year since we began implementing the 2008 Farm Bill conservation programs.

	Salinity control projects on farm land have controlled about 209,000 tons of salt from getting into Colorado River water – enough to fill more than 1,000 rail cars on an 11-mile train.
	NRCS provided financial assistance on sprinkler irrigation systems installed on 15,340 acres of farm land – enough to irrigate an area the size of Ogden.
	Under contract with NRCS, ranchers built 83 miles of fence to improve grazing – enough fence to span the length of the Great Salt Lake.
	Conservation plans were developed for nearly a half million acres of farm and ranch land — more than the size of Salt Lake County.
	You could drive from Salt Lake City to the Idaho border along side the 103 miles of irrigation pipe installed to better irrigate Utah farm land.