Douglas County Conservation District Our Beginning and How We Are Helping Today

Conservation Districts were originated under the Franklin Roosevelt administration in the early 1930s during a time that poor soil conservation practices caused the Dust Bowl throughout the South-Central United States. The creation of Conservation Districts was a starting point in the effort to make sure that America would have healthy farmland in the future.

Severe soil erosion problems in the “Dust Bowl” days prompted the passage of the Conservation District Law by Kansas Legislature in 1937, which lead to the formation of conservation districts in Kansas. Across the state, 105 conservation districts (one in every county) provide local leadership by helping the local people address their natural resource needs.

The Douglas County Conservation District (DCCD) was formed by farmers and landowners at a referendum held on August 1720, 1945. Most farmers believed that a soil conservation district would be of great help in solving the serious erosion problems of the county. Two farmers, Emil Heck of Lawrence and Wilson Counts of Baldwin, were appointed supervisors by the State Soil Conservation Committee. On January 4, 1946, Homer Gerstenberger of Eudora, George Butell of Baldwin and Leslie Dermeritt of Clinton were elected as supervisors.

On January 11, 1946, the DCCD requested technical assistance from the USDA Soil Conservation Service (SCS). M.H. Wertzberger was assigned as a technician to the district. At the beginning of operations, a considerable list of applications was presented. Many needed immediate technical help to facilitate conservation farming. Terrace construction by farmers using their own plows and equipment was by far the most common method used.

With the assignment of an SCS employee to the district, a partnership of Douglas County landowners, the DCCD, and the Natural Resources Conservation Service was formed to address soil

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