Since 1935, the Natural Resources Conservation Service (originally called the Soil Conservation Service) has provided leadership in a partnership effort to help America’s private land owners and managers conserve their soil, water, and other natural resources including air, plants, and animals.

NRCS employees provide technical assistance based on sound science and suited to a customer’s specific needs. We provide financial assistance for many conservation activities. Participation in our programs is voluntary.

Our Conservation Technical Assistance (CTA) program provides voluntary conservation technical assistance to landusers, communities, units of state and local government, and other Federal agencies in planning and implementing conservation systems.

We reach out to all segments of the agricultural community, including underserved and socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers, to ensure that our programs and services are accessible to everyone. The NRCS manage natural resource conservation programs that provide environmental, societal, financial, and technical benefits.

Our science and technology activities provide technical expertise in such areas as animal husbandry and clean water, ecological sciences, engineering, resource economics, and social sciences. We provide expertise in soil science and leadership for soil surveys and for the National Resources Inventory, which assesses natural resource conditions and trends in the United States. We provide technical assistance to foreign governments, and participate in international scientific and technical exchanges.

The CTA Program is the basic program of which all other programs are based on. It provides land users with proven conservation technology and the delivery system needed to achieve the benefits of a healthy and productive landscape. The primary purposes of the CTA Program are to reduce soil loss from wind and water erosion, solve soil, water quality, water conservation, air quality, and agricultural waste management problems, and reduce potential damage caused by excess water and sedimentation or drought.

It also improves the long-term sustainability of all lands, including cropland, forestland, grazing lands, coastal lands, and developed and/or developing lands. Also assist others in facilitating changes in land use as needed for natural resource protection and sustainability.

Reduce potential damage caused by excess water and sedimentation or drought as well as enhance the quality of fish and wildlife habitat are also part of providing technical assistance to landowners and producers.

The NRCS has practiced this concept through the local Soil and Water Conservation District Program coming up on 75 years. Much has been accomplished by the landowners and operators on the landscape, but still many more problems have to be conquered in order to sustain our resources for future generations.

Anyone needing information on NRCS programs should contact the local office of the NRCS in Kingsville at 401 East King Ave. Ste. 100 or call at 592-0309 Ext. 3.