Knox-Lincoln Soil and Water Conservation District

Knox-Lincoln Soil and Water Conservation District

Union, Maine
"Those who contemplate the
beauty of the earth
find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts."
Rachel Carson

A conservation district focuses on natural resource problems and solutions. There are almost 3,000 conservation districts in the United States. With almost one in every county, they improve the quality of life for every American.

"The nation that destroys its soil
destroys itself."

Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1937.

History and Origins

In the early 1930s, along with the greatest depression this nation ever experienced, came an equally unparalled ecological disaster known as the Dust Bowl.

Following a severe and sustained drought in the Great Plains, the region's soil began to erode and blow away, creating huge black dust storms that blotted out the sun and swallowed the countryside. Thousands of "dust refugees" left the black fog to seek better lives.

But the storms stretched across the nation. They reached south to Texas and east to New York. Dust even sifted into the White House and onto the President's desk.