A LEGISLATIVE COMMEMORATION, Honoring and recognizing seventy-five years of conservation leadership.

    WHEREAS, the Dirty Thirties were epitomized by rolling dust storms, dirt-clogged fence lines, and hardship caused in part by inadequate conservation practices; and

    WHEREAS, the 1937 South Dakota Legislature recognized the urgent need for local leadership to conserve our natural resources and enacted HB 206 allowing South Dakotans to organize conservation districts through petition and referendum; and

    WHEREAS, all of South Dakota's lands became part of conservation districts in 1972 when the city of Freeman elected to be included; and

    WHEREAS, the conservation district mission is to take all available technical, financial, and educational resources and focus or coordinate them so they meet the needs of the local land manager with conservation of soil, water, and related natural resources; and

    WHEREAS, South Dakota's conservation districts have provided seventy-five years of vital local leadership encouraging stewardship of the natural resources, which are our state's economic base; and

    WHEREAS, every South Dakotan, urban and rural, benefits from efforts to improve soil health, water quality, air quality, plant diversity, and habitat for wild and domestic animals; and

    WHEREAS, conservation involves personal and social responsibility, including a duty to learn about and improve natural resources as we use them wisely, leaving a rich legacy for future generations:

    NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT COMMEMORATED, by the Eighty-seventh Legislature of the State of South Dakota, that the Legislature salutes our state's current and previous conservation district leaders and recognizes the economic, social, and recreational importance of natural resources conservation to the entire state.