The 1930s Dust Bowl taught us that plants play a critical role in the health of our environment. At that time, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) created a number of Soil Conservation Nurseries throughout the country to grow and distribute plants for the stabilization of severely eroding lands. Since the mid-1930s, this need for conservation plants has grown into the present day Plant Materials Program. The Program was created in 1935 as the Soil Conservation Service (SCS) Division of Nurseries. It later became the SCS Plant Materials Program and is known today as the NRCS Plant Materials Program.
Photo Gallery
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Title:
Soil Conservation Service Nursery, Big Flats, NY
Caption:
Administration Building, Soil Conservation Service Nursery, Big Flats, New York. 1949. Photographer M.E Heath. Dr. Maurice Heath was the Nursery manager from 1949-1951.
Wind erosion - some fields on this farm have been blown out to a depth of 4 feet and the resultant drift has ruined the remaining portion. A considerable area has been thus affected where light soils have been worked. Near Eckman, ND (Bottineau Area) July 24, 1936.
In-the-row tree cultivator - this is one of the tractor mounted "in-the-row" tree cultivators that followed a few years after the Park River original model. Near Carrington, ND on June 19, 1959
In-the-row tree cultivator built at Park River, ND winter of 1937-38. This was the fore-runner of other tractor mounted "in-the-row" cultivators that are used today in many windbreak plantings on the Northern Great Plains.
