The Impact Of The Dust Bowl

The need for agricultural resources is as old as American itself. Since our arrival and birth of our great nation, man has had a need for cheap, durable sustenance that could be produced locally and efficiently. With the expansion of our nation, so has the expansion of supply and demand for agricultural consumer goods, which led to technological advancements to mass produce and shipment. It was not noticed that this drive for agricultural needs would have a devastating impact on the environment and the rate of soil erosion until the Midwest dust bowl incident of the 1930’s, which at that time was too late ("Dust Bowl", 2016). The soil conservation act, created in 1935 paved the way for soil and water control programs, and other conservation …show more content…
The “Dust Bowl” incident which occurred during the 1930’s greatly changed the methods we would later implement to gain a deeper understanding of our ecological system. The dust bowl was a period of drought in the Midwest plains, which combined with our advancement of farming technology, and our lack of understanding of the second and third order effects of over farming, caused catastrophic dust storms that affected areas from Oklahoma and Texas, all the way to New York City and Washington D.C on the East coast ("Dust Bowl", …show more content…
The SCS, at the time, was tasked to mitigate the deterioration of soil, water, and many other natural resources that have proven so beneficial to the populace for so long. During its initial stages, the soil conservation service had very limited data on the actual impact that erosion had taken place which made it difficult to know where to start (2016). With the resources and agencies in place to begin a good foundation in the field of land conservation efforts, the conservation community reached a turning point and broader thinking aspect with the introduction of a man named Aldo Leopold, whom many consider to be the “father of wildlife management.” (Dombeck,