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The Conservation Operations Program: A Primary Building Block


Remarks by Bruce I. Knight, Chief, Natural Resources Conservation Service,  at the Conservation Operations Panel, 58th Annual Meeting, National Association of Conservation Districts

Waikoloa, HI
February 2, 2004


Thank you for the opportunity to visit with you during this annual conference about our primary building block – the Conservation Operations Program – the foundation for keeping the landscape of our country both healthy and productive for our families, our communities and future generations.

In order to properly kickoff this panel topic, it is necessary to provide some soil and water conservation history on how Conservation Operations started. In the early 1900s, USDA conducted soil surveys, identifying “rough gullied land” and the resulting sediment in creeks, rivers, and lakes. In the 1920s, Hugh Hammond Bennett, USDA soil scientist, drew upon his observation to co-author “Soil Erosion: A National Menace.”

Mr. Bennett was evangelistic in delivering his message on conservation, spicing his writings and speeches with admonitions about the “evil of erosion” and how “rainwater running wild” would cause “waste material marching down to the Gulf of Mexico”! Mr. Bennett was regarded as the “father of soil conservation.”

At Mr. Bennett’s urging, Congress reacted with several landmark pieces of legislation that have served as the foundation of USDA’s natural resource conservation activities:

• 1929 – formation of soil conservation experiment stations;
• 1933 – Creation of Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and the Soil Erosion Service to provide public-sector assistance to farmers (equipment, seed, seedlings, technical assistance);
• 1934 – Taylor Grazing Act – regulated livestock on public lands to prevent overgrazing and soil deterioration;
• 1935 – Soil Conservation Act – Established Soil Conservation Service (from Soil Erosion Service) with expanded authority for conservation efforts nationwide;
• 1936 and 1937 – Public sharing of the cost of conservation work became a part of agricultural programs;
• 1937 – USDA Assistant Secretary Milburn Wilson proposed one of the most historic partnerships concerning natural resource conservation and the environment. He proposed establishing local conservation districts – governmental subdivisions of States organized by local people. Locally appointed or elected directors to direct local activities. The Federal government would supply equipment, supplies, and technical assistance through trained conservationists. Congress passed legislation. Brown Creek Soil Conservation District, NC, was first with an agreement with USDA.

A basic tenet of USDA, as expressed in l945 to a congressional committee by Mr. Bennett, was and still is, “The only way in which water pollution due to erosion silt can be effectively controlled is by the adoption of soil and water conservation practices applied in accordance with the needs and capabilities of the land.”

Let’s fast-forward to today. USDA works through partnerships to help private landowners and communities get conservation on the ground, and to conserve our natural resources on public lands.

Local districts, State conservation agencies, and Tribes are the foundation of our partnerships, but our partners are many, including environmental protection agencies and organizations, non-governmental groups, private industry, consultants, and technical service providers.

I would like to review with you the approach that we use at USDA when working with our natural resources. Perhaps this might be called a “philosophy.”

First, we believe in a voluntary, incentive-based approach. Local people, farmers, ranchers, forest operators voluntarily managing the land and, when needed, using incentives that encourage stewardship.

Second, solutions to natural resource and environmental problems should be science-based and site-specific. We use science and scientists to help find solutions – and the solutions must be applicable to the conditions at a site. We do not like “one-size-fits-all” proposals.

Next, we are partners with locally led decision-making processes, as described earlier when speaking of our partnership with local conservation districts. Adaptive management is also very important to us… for we strongly believe that we must constantly evaluate how we are performing – how well are we progressing to the goal – and be willing to make changes if we are not making satisfactory progress.

Last on the list is regulation. We are not opposed to regulation – Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) or other regulations – but it must be used in proper proportion to voluntary, incentive-based efforts, such as the Conservation Operations Program and technical assistance.

To support the approach that I have described, we follow several principles that serve as guideposts to our work. These include locally led efforts and involvement of Stakeholders (landowners and operators, communities, local work groups, State Technical Committees). Research provides the scientific basis for decisions. Education instills knowledge for improved decisions. Information improves understanding of opportunities. Technical assistance brings the technical knowledge and information to bear on natural resource conditions. And financial assistance helps to share the cost for social benefits.

USDA uses a variety of conservation programs to provide technical and financial assistance to private landowners to address resource concerns. Conservation programs include Conservation Operations Technical Assistance (Conservation Technical Assistance or CTA), farm bill conservation programs, and the Small Watershed Program.

CTA underpins our national private lands conservation infrastructure. It leverages more than a billion dollars annually in State and local conservation investments, primarily with local soil and water conservation districts. In fact, it would be nearly impossible to carry out all of the farm bill programs without Conservation Operations because we wouldn’t have the infrastructure, the conservation standards and the proven delivery system.

We are often asked “What is the Conservation Operations Program”? When boiled down to the most simple terms, the Conservation Operations Program is comprised of one major, important component – technical assistance, more specifically and principally, conservation planning and conservation implementation.

Technical assistance represents that personal advice, one-on-one technical advice from conservation experts in the field, supported by sound technology, that we have respected since 1935 when the Soil Conservation Service was born.

NRCS has a specific line item in the budget called “Conservation Operations Technical Assistance” that enables us to keep that presence in your local conservation district. It might be the friendly voice on the office phone when land-users call to seek conservation advice or that person on your property helping you install sound conservation practices.

In order to keep our foundation in place, we must continue to market our successes and show Congress the results and importance of our technical assistance efforts. As partners with conservation districts and others, we will continue to provide assistance to help landowners get the best conservation on the ground and private lands in the United States.

I look forward to hearing the perspectives of our panel on the value of this program.