Soil Stewardship Week

April 26-May 3

In 1955, the National Association of Conservation Districts began a national program to encourage Americans to focus on stewardship. Stewardship Week is officially celebrated from the last Sunday in April to the first Sunday in May. It is one of the world's largest conservation-related observances. 

The program relies on locally led conservation districts sharing and promoting stewardship and conservation activities. Districts provide conservation and stewardship field days, programs, workshops and additional outreach efforts throughout their community to educate citizens about the need to care for our resources. Many district activities extend beyond the one-week observance to include an entire year of outreach.

The Stewardship concept involves personal and social responsibility, including a duty to learn about and improve natural resources as we use them wisely, leaving a rich legacy for future generations.

One definition of Stewardship is "the individual's responsibility to manage his life and property with proper regard to the rights of others." E. William Anderson suggests stewardship "is essentially a synonym for conservation."

Stewardship Week helps reminds all citizens of the power of each person to conserve natural resources and improve the world. When people work together with their local conservation district, that power grows and grows. As these good deeds multiply across the nation's network of conservation districts, the results are spectacular!

Soil….the Scoop on it!

Soil – it nurtures life and death; under girds cities, forests and oceans; and feeds all terrestrial life on Earth. It is a substance that few people understand and most take for granted. It is arguably one of the Earth’s most critical natural resources.

Soil makes up the outer layer of the earth’s surface, it nourishes the plants we eat, the animals we use for food and fiber and the thriving underground kingdom of bacteria, fungi, protozoa, earthworms and other microbes that are critical to the planet’s food web.

Soil scientists have identified over 70,000 kinds of soils in the United States. Soil directly and indirectly effects agriculture production, water quality and climate. Thanks to the earths soils, most of the rainfall hitting the planet is trapped and absorbed, watering plants and replenishing aquifers, rivers, lakes and streams.

Topsoil is the most productive soil layer and the layer that is the first lost due to soil erosion. Erosion occurs naturally because of wind, water and ice acting on any exposed rock or soil surface. Human activities are responsible for 60-80% of all erosion. A single rainstorm can wash away centuries old accumulations of soil from damaged, neglected or badly managed ground. In many places, soils are eroding faster than they can be rebuilt. Though soil is a renewable resource in theory, soil forms slowly. For all practical purposes, the soil we lose to erosion will never be replaced in our lifetime.

When soil erodes, much of the displaced sediment - as well as pollutants that are mixed with it such as pesticides, oil, grease and excess nutrients wash into streams, rivers and eventually the ocean. This in turn effects water quality and disrupts the health of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems.

Since the Dust Bowl of the 1930’s the protection of soil from erosion and degradation has greatly increased through the formation of Soil and Water Conservation Districts and many state and federal agencies. These Conservation agencies equipped with their highly skilled conservationist assist landowners and the general public through education and technical assistance as to the importance of the soil and how to properly manage the thing that humans literally owe their very existence.

 For more information on Soils visit:
Smithsonian Institution - http://forces.si.edu/soils/
Soil Science Society of America – http:www.soils.org
Natural Resources Conservation Service – http://www.soils.usda.gov
Environmental Protection Agency – http://www.epa.gov/gmpo/edresources/soil