The DU Lounge

and walls, windows are better than back in those days.

When I lived in eastern Montana, I got to listen to several old timers talking about the dust bowl days. They were kids and some of them had younger siblings who died from 'dust pneumonia'. Being a daughter of the Show Me State, I checked out headstones in the local cemetery. Yep. several youngsters died within a short period of time. So tragic. But farming practices changed, with the help of scientists, and the The Soil Conservation Service (SCS) was established in 1935.

The SCS morphed into the NRCS (Natural Resources Conservation Services) to administer expertise and financial assistance programs to help food producers improve their operations to be better for the whole environment, wildlife and the family farmers/ranchers. The wind doesn't carry so much of the topsoil off now with the better practices. Of course, conditions are getting bad and the improved methods won't save everything soon.


Great programs, great people. And yes, many of them cut/fired by Trump, at a time the expertise and help is going to be more important than ever.