This year, Iowa celebrates its 84th Soil and Water Conservation Week April 27 through May 4, coinciding with national Stewardship Week organized by the National Association of Conservation Districts.  

The Madison County Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD), led by five elected commissioners, is one of 100 SWCDs in the state of Iowa and 3,000 conservation districts across the country that were established in the years following the “Dust Bowl” period of the 1930s.  

In 1935, Congress passed the Soil Conservation Act, which stated, “that it is hereby recognized that the wastage of soil and moisture resources on farm,...