USDA, NRCS

Natural Resources Conservation Services

The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture provides technical assistance to the Lincoln County Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) in order to implement its various conservation programs.

History and Objectives

The NRCS was first known as the Soil Erosion Service in the early 1930s after the "dustbowl" era, in which millions of tons of topsoil was blown or eroded away in the Midwest and Southwestern portions of the country. The Soil Erosion Service soon became the Soil Conservation Service (SCS), but its objective was the same – to save topsoil so that agricultural land would remain as productive as possible.

The other objective of SCS was to provide assistance to farmers in solving soil erosion problems. Now, since becoming the NRCS in 1983 , the agency has expanded its focus on natural resource problems to include not only soil erosion but also water quality, wetlands, wildlife habitat, and forestry – all while maintaining the personal technical assistance to producers that help found the agency.