The McHenry County Soil and Water Conservation District can trace its roots back more than 50 years, to a time when farmers desperately needed help with soil problems and water erosion.
Dust bowls in the 1930s threatened the nation’s food supply. Drought resulted in open, dry fields filled with dust and blowing dirt instead of blooming crops.
Improper farming techniques combined with soil and water erosion to leave the fields barren. The nation’s leaders realized something must be done to help the country’s farmers and ultimately the country’s breadbaskets.
Congress created the Soil Conservation Service, which eventually led to the formation of local districts in every one of the nation’s 3,000 counties, said Ed Weskena, district manager for the McHenry County district.
“In its birth, the district was mostly responsible for agricultural issues,” Weskena said. “That is probably still true in most unurbanized counties throughout the country.”
But as volunteers, employees and board members serving the county’s soil and water conservation district gathered last month to celebrate the district’s 50th anniversary, they did so knowing their mission had changed significantly.
Today, as urbanization threatens to eat up much of McHenry County’s farmland, the district is keeping busy with different types of problems.
“We are now more responsible for urban issues,” Weskena said. “We deal with construction-site erosion, wetland awareness, flood-plain issues and the soil aspects of development. We also are working to get more farmland protection policies in place to protect the farms from urban sprawl and growth.”
A board of five county residents oversees the soil and water conservation district’s functions.
The board, elected at the district’s annual meeting last month, consists of returning chairman John Mady of Marengo; vice chairman John Pihl of Harvard; and board members Joel Kooistra of Harvard, Mike Luerssen of Harvard and Chet Nelson of Hebron.
Although many residents may not even know of the district’s existence, the services it offers are valuable for residents, developers and community leaders alike.
The district has become a library of sorts, stocking up information on flood plain areas as well as soil and wetland maps.
Although a government agency, the district estimates that about 75 percent of its $200,000 annual budget is generated by fundraisers and revenue from its services. The remainder is made up by state and county funding, Weskena said.
The district’s fundraisers are designed to help the environment too. The largest of the events, the annual tree sale, is going on now.
Anyone interested in receiving a free tree brochure or in buying a tree can call the district’s Woodstock office at 815-338-0099. Orders must be turned in by March 31.
