On April 27, 1935 one of these great dust storms was headed toward Washington, D.C. when Hugh Hammond Bennett, known as the “father of soil conservation,” spoke to members of Congress.  Bennett believed that America needed “a tremendous national awakening to the need for action in bettering our agricultural practices.” As Bennett pled his case for soil conservation, the dust storm reached the city and darkened the sky.  Bennett responded by saying that “This, gentlemen, is what I have been talking about.” Congress then enacted the Soil Conservation Act of 1935, and the Standard State Soil Conservation Act of 1937. The first act created the Soil Conservation Service (now the Natural Resources Conservation Service), and the second encouraged the creation of conservation districts at the county level.

Soil and Water Conservation Districts (SWCDs) began in Indiana when the district law was established in 1940. This law was based upon the federal 1937 law, which calls for local citizens to petition for the creation of a conservation district in their county. SWCDs were founded on the concept that the implementation of federal conservation programs is best done through the coordination of local shareholders.