• Soil Conservation Works - Arroyo Grande CA
    The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and Works Progress Administration (WPA) were called on to aid local farmers in control works for soil erosion.  Their work played an essential role in the origins of the Soil Conservation Service (SCS).   "Farmers in Arroyo Grande, desperate to eke out a living during the Great Depression, were plowing their land to plant bean and pea crops. The unintended result was massive erosion. 'Arroyo Grande was an eye opener', Hugh Bennett, the first chief of the Soil Conservation Service, wrote in 1935.  'I can think of no other place in the United States where erosion is...