Coming Home to Conservation: Putting Science into Practice

The 70^th Annual Soil and Water Conservation Society (SWCS) Conference will provide a forum to celebrate past conservation accomplishments as well as share and promote science-based knowledge on critical, current issues facing soil, water, and environmental sustainability.

We will meet this year in North Carolina, the home state of Hugh Hammond Bennett, which provides a unique combination of conservation history and southern hospitality. Already an active soil scientist in the years prior to the Dust Bowl, Bennett witnessed first-hand the social and environmental devastation of significant erosion.  His nation called on him to help stem the tide of its worst environmental disaster by implementing soil saving practices in the Great Plains and beyond.  Hugh Hammond Bennett later helped found the Soil and Water Conservation Society and led the charge of identifying and applying sound science in pursuit of conserving soil and water resources. With the same mission today, we face even greater natural resource challenges in the midst of climate change and increasing populations. The path paved by Bennett’s efforts and example gives us a solid foundation, and we must strive to continually improve the use and preservation of resources as we build a sustainable future.

One way we are moving forward on current environmental challenges is by incorporating the former NIFA National Water Conference into the SWCS Annual Conference, which will increase collaborative opportunities for Land-Grant based scientists and educators engaged in water issues. SWCS welcomes this addition to our already diverse audience and the enhancement it will provide to all conference participants.