|What is MACD?
The Mississippi Association of Conservation Districts, Inc. (MACD), established in 1945, is a non-profit, non-governmental organization composed of the 82 Soil & Water Conservation Districts in Mississippi. MACD is governed by a 31 member Board of Directors and represents more than four hundred district commissioners throughout Mississippi.
What is a soil and water conservation district?
During the 1930's, as Americans were recovering from the Great Depression, along came an unparalleled ecological disaster of national consequence. Americans looked out their windows to a black fog of dust, slowly moving across the entire United States. Following one of the most severe droughts in history across the Great Plains, the region's soil began to erode and blow away creating great clouds of dust, some of which began to settle in Washington, and came to the attention of President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Through a Presidential mandate, Congress subsequently passed legislation declaring soil and water conservation a national policy and priority. Congress realized, since about 75% of the land in the continental United States was privately owned, that the only guarantee for the success of a conservation program was to garner voluntary support from the landowners.
In 1937, President Roosevelt wrote the governors of all states recommending legislation that would allow local landowners to form soil conservation districts.
The Mississippi Legislature, in 1938, officially recognized that our soil resources were deteriorating at an enormous rate and that this was being caused by misuse or improper use of the land and the lack of applied conservation treatment or measures. It further recognized that if this were allowed to continue, the results would be disastrous.
In its effort to solve the problem, which was primarily soil erosion, the Mississippi Legislature enacted the Soil Conservation Law (currently the Soil and Water Conservation Law), in which the State Soil Conservation Committee (currently the Mississippi Soil and Water Conservation Commission) was created. Provisions were made so that each county could organize a soil and water conservation district.
A soil & water conservation district's governing board is comprised of voluntary citizens who come together and represent land owners and users in their district and ensure a local voice in conservation.
MACD Vision Statement
Today, there is a soil & water conservation district in every county in Mississippi. Among other things, these districts' ongoing and future efforts are to:
- Implement farm conservation practices to keep soil in the fields and out of waterways.
- Conserve and restore wetlands and wildlife habitat.
- Protect groundwater resources.
- Plant trees and other land cover to hold topsoil, purify the air, provide cover for wildlife, and beautify neighborhoods and public areas.
- Help developers and homeowners manage the land and water in an environmentally sensitive manner.
- Reach out to communities and schools to teach the value of natural resources and encourage conservation in generations to come.