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How it all
began…
From 1933 to 1940 the southern and central Great Plains region of
the United
States suffered through a severe and sustained
drought known as the Dust Bowl. Crops failed and
fields were left unprotected from the unrelenting winds common to the region.
Soil eroded and was blown away, creating massive black dust storms that
affected areas as far away as New
York. The
storms blotted out the sun and contributed to extremely
harsh living conditions. |
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 In
1935, Congress unanimously passed the Soil Conservation Act declaring
soil and water conservation a national policy and priority. The Soil
Conservation Service (SCS), now the Natural Resources Conservation Service
(NRCS), was created under the act to develop and implement soil erosion control
programs. President Franklin Roosevelt recognized that local leadership was
needed to help coordinate the efforts of the new federal agency and tie it
into local conditions and priorities. As a result, he wrote the governors
of all the states in 1937, recommending legislation that would allow local
landowners to form soil conservation districts.
Today, nearly 3000 conservation
districts operate in the United States to help develop locally driven solutions to natural
resource concerns. Forty-eight of those districts are found in Washington State.
Districts are represented by the National Association of Conservation Districts
(NACD) and the Washington Association of Conservation Districts at the national
and state level,
respectively. |
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The Cascadia Conservation
District
The Washington State Legislature
passed RCW 89.08 in 1939, enabling the establishment
of conservation districts in the state. In 1948, the
Wenatchee-Entiat Soil Conservation District and the Lake Chelan Soil
Conservation District were created. The two Districts merged in October
1973 to form the Chelan County Conservation District. In July 2007, we
changed our name to the Cascadia Conservation District to prevent confusion with
county government and to better meet the needs of our district members and
stakeholders. |
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We are a
non-regulatory political subdivision of the State of Washington. Our
district includes all of Chelan County except for the incorporated cities of
Wenatchee and Chelan. Our mission is to encourage wise stewardship and
conservation of all natural resources for current and future residents of Chelan
County. We work toward cooperative solutions that result in the greatest
benefit for the greatest number of people. Follow the links to the right
to meet our Board & Staff members, federal partner, and supporting
organizations.
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