Hugh Hammond Bennett - Conservationism, Government service

Soil conservationist, born in Wadesboro, North Carolina, USA. Raised on a 1200-acre farm whose depleted soil made farming difficult, in 1903 he joined the Bureau of Soils at the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and was soon working on problems of soil erosion. As supervisor of soil surveys (1909–28), he assessed agricultural possibilities in the Panama Canal Zone, inspected the land proposed for a territorial railroad in Alaska, and conducted soil surveys in Cuba. In 1928 he co-wrote the USDA report ‘Soil Erosion, a National Menace’, and persuaded Congress to fund an erosion control programme (1933). He directed the Soil Erosion Service in the Department of the Interior and, while a dust storm swept over the capital, appealed to Congress for more action on soil conservation (1935). Congress implemented the Soil Conservation Act, and Bennett became the first chief of the Soil Conservation Service.

Hugh Hammond Bennett (April 15, 1881 – July 7, 1960) was a pioneer in the field of soil conservation in the United States of America. He founded and headed the Soil Conservation Service, a federal agency now referred to as the Natural Resources Conservation Service. Immediately upon graduation, he became a soil surveyor, and conducted soil studies both in the United States and in other countries that eventually convinced him that soil erosion was a serious problem facing the planet.

Conservationism

By the 1920's, Bennett was actively writing about soil erosion for popular magazines and scientific journals, with works appearing in publications like Country Gentleman and Scientific Monthly. Buchanan, who was a member of the United States House Committee on Appropriations, helped obtain funding in 1929 for soil erosion studies in the United States.

Government service

When the Soil Erosion Service was established as part of the United States Department of the Interior, he became the director in September of 1933. He continued to speak out on soil conservation issues, especially through the Dust Bowl years, and eventually influenced the passage of the soil conservation act of April 27, 1935, which created the Soil Conservation Service at the USDA. Hutchinson Award from the Garden Club of America in 1944 The Cullum Geographical Medal by the American Geographical Society in 1948 The Distinguished Service Medal by the USDA in 1947 The Audubon Medal by the National Audubon Society in 1947

In addition, Bennett was named a charter inductee into the USDA Hall of Heroes in 2000.