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Success Story

The First Demonstration Project: Coon Creek Watershed

By Nancy McNiff, USDA Farm Production and Conservation Business Center
Publish Date
Coon Creek in 1933, shorelines collapsed from severe erosion

In the 1930s, Coon Creek watershed in Wisconsin was chosen as the first of many demonstration projects in critically eroded areas across the country to show landowners the benefits of conservation firsthand. NRCS still uses demonstration projects today to share innovative solutions. 
 

Combating the nation’s soil erosion crisis was the mission of NRCS’s first Chief, Hugh Hammond Bennett, long before the official beginning of the agency in 1935.

In 1933, while Bennett was Chief of the Soil Erosion Service (SES), he began establishing demonstration projects in critically eroded areas across the country to show landowners the benefits of conservation firsthand. He believed that showcasing how conservation practices could turn a farm around would be visible proof that the practices worked. And it would help farmers take the leap to try something new.

One critically eroded area was the Coon Creek watershed in Wisconsin – which was chosen by the SES as the first watershed to demonstrate the value of soil conservation practices. SES staff worked with local farmers to create conservation plans for their farmland to include practices like strip cropping, contouring, fencing woodland, and controlling gullies and stream bank erosion.  

The Transformation of Coon Creek

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) did much of the conservation work on the ground. The CCC was established by President Roosevelt to help implement conservation practices nationwide and to give the unemployed a much-needed job during the Depression.

According to an article by the Aldo Leopold Foundation, “The project transformed Coon Valley in a matter of years. To prevent erosion and gully formation, the CCC terraced and strip-cropped the valleys, replanted the formerly wooded hillsides, converted 10,000 acres from pasture to forest, created wildlife habitat, constructed dams, and planted gully slopes with trees and sod. The most important technique that had a lasting effect was plowing along the contour lines of farms, running perpendicular to sloping land to slow runoff. When the CCC left in 1937, more than half (43,000 acres) of the Coon Creek watershed was under sustainable soil management…The Coon Valley project is a compelling example of a public-private partnership to improve land health, benefit farmers, and provide work in the public’s interest.”

A Model for Innovation

The Coon Creek project also served as the model for future demonstration projects across the nation. And this demonstration approach is still being used today. NRCS is helping farmers share their experiences and new innovations with other farmers by allowing them to come see the positive evidence for themselves. Through programs like Conservation Innovation Grants, NRCS supports the development of new tools, approaches, practices, and technologies to further natural resource conservation on private lands.

And NRCS is also continuing to embrace innovation in farming – such as using precision technology – by helping farmers try something new. NRCS assists farmers with the financial and technical hurdles that come with adopting new technology. And recently, virtual fencing and livestock water monitoring systems were added to the suite of NRCS precision agriculture practices, which have the potential to change the face of agriculture.

Hugh Hammond Bennett relentlessly pursued an innovative national solution to the soil erosion problem. But farmers were the heroes who voluntarily took the leap of faith to try the new conservation practices that ultimately saved agriculture in the United States.

Additional Resources

To learn more about NRCS history and Hugh Hammond Bennett, see these additional resources:

 

Nancy McNiff is a public affairs specialist with USDA’s Farm Production and Conservation Business Center.