When Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected President in 1933, he continued and expanded on the conservation efforts begun earlier in the century during the administration of his second cousin. He expanded national parks and national forests. In an attempt to encourage conservation and stimulate the economy, he created the Civilian Conservation Corps. Additionally, this was a immediate response to massive unemployment in the Great Depression and environmental havoc wreaked by the Dust Bowl conditions in the Midwest. The Conservation Corps purposes are to replant forests and improve recreational opportunities on public land and the Soil Conservation Service to protect valuable topsoil. The Corp provided two million jobs planting trees, building dams and irrigation systems, and establishing soil conservation and wildlife protection programs.
Wind Erosion / Dust Bowl.
The Dust Bowl is a common name applied to a large area in the southern part of the Great Plains region of the United States. The area suffered significantly from wind erosion during the 1930s. The area included parts of Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and Colorado. In its original state, the region was covered with hardy grasses that held the fine-grained soil in place in spite of the long recurrent droughts and occasional torrential rains characteristic of the area. A large number of homesteaders settled in the region in the 30 years before World War I, planting wheat and row crops and raising cattle. These land uses left the soil exposed to the danger of erosion by the winds that constantly sweep over the gently rolling land. Beginning in the early 1930s, the region suffered a period of severe droughts, and the soil began to blow away. The organic matter, clay, and silt in the soil were carried great distances by the winds, in some cases darkening the sky as far as the !.
Atlantic coast, and sand and heavier materials drifted against houses, fences, and barns.
