Agua Fria New River NRCD

National and State

Soon after the Dust Bowl days, it became evident to President F.D. Roosevelt that the federal government should provide assistance to agricultural producers to conserve natural resources. However, President Roosevelt also realized that local landowners were more able to guide conservation efforts than folks in Washington D.C. In 1938, President F.D. Roosevelt proposed a "Model State Soil Conservation Districts Enabling Law". Arizona enacted the law March 17, 1941. In 1972 the Arizona Legislature renamed Soil Conservation Districts to Natural Resource Conservation Districts (NRCD) and began financial assistance through the Arizona State Land Department. Several Conservation Districts on Tribal Lands are called Soil and Water Conservation Districts (SWCD). With the acceptance of Apache SWCD in 1998, Arizona is completely represented by Conservation Districts.

Conservation Districts have been established in all 50 states, plus Guam and Puerto Rico. The National Association of Conservation Districts (NACD) works to help the nation's Conservation Districts promote conservation work, develop conservation materials, secure funding, and promote discussion among the Districts. In addition, the NACD serves as a liaison to the USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), Environmental Protection Agency, and other agencies and organizations. The Arizona Association of Conservation Districts (AACD) works to help the Arizona Conservation Districts in the same way.

Local

October 19, 1944 the New River Soil Conservation District was officially organized. On June 23, 1945 Agua Fria Soil Conservation District was established. In 1968 Hank Raymond and Glenn Smith announced the merging of the Agua Fria and the New River Soil Conservation Districts. This affiliation would "eliminate a lot of duplicate administrative work and, in general, increase the efficiency of the conservation work within their Districts."

The initial officers of the newly formed District were: Chairman, H. S. Raymond; Vice Chairman, Glenn Smith; Secretary, Cal Sutton; Board Members: Thayer Collier, Bob Tyson, Karl Abel, Jess Watt and Newell Kring. As "a legal subdivision of the State of Arizona", these district supervisors were also Officers of the State. However, they received no salaries for their duties. "Their compensation was in seeing conservation work actually installed on farm land".

Historic Accomplishments:

Agua Fria-New River NRCD has been an influential part of the Conservation District Movement in Arizona. Some of the major historical accomplishments achieved by the District with technical assistance from NRCS (formerly SCS) includes:

Worked with the Maricopa County Municipal Water Conservation District #1 and the Maricopa Flood Control District on the White Tanks Watershed Project.
Sponsored Alta Vista Storm channel, Champion Flood Control, McMicken Dam project, Beardsley Cut-off flood control and reclassification of the Buckeye flood control.
Sponsored detention dams and widened the channels for New River and Agua Fria River. (This led to the construction of new bridges for Indian School Rd., and Peoria Ave. To help clear congestion on Grand Ave. And Hwy 80 during flooding.)
Sponsored the Hieroglyphic Mountain Development for the Morristown cut-off and Highways 60, 70, and 89 terminating at the Black Canyon Freeway.
Sponsored Alvord Park Lake as a joint venture with the City of Phoenix, as well as Skunk Creek and Lake Pleasant Regional Park recreation areas.

Goodyear Conservation Awards have been presented to area farmers showing their efforts to conserve our soil, water and natural resources. Scholarships are provided for high school students in the District who wish to attend the Natural Resources Conservation Workshop for Arizona Youth, as well as scholarships for teachers wishing to attend Resource and Environmental Education Workshops.

We would like to take this opportunity to recognize and say Thank You for the many hours of dedicated work provided by the Chairman and Supervisors who have served the Agua Fria and New River SCDs: Karl Abel, Lynn Anderson, John Ansel, Dale Bumstead, George Busey, Thayer Collier, Robert Drake, Joe Falbo, Newell Kring, W. W. Lane, K. B. McMicken, I. E. Moore, F. E. Raynor, Glenn Smith, W. E. Springer, Cal Sutton, Jules Vermervch, Jess Watt. Chairmen serving Agua Fria - New River NRCD include: H. S. Raymond, 68-72, Robert L. Tyson, Jr., 72-75, Wayne Kessler, 75-87, Mike Moore, 88-90, Dave Schofield, 90-present. A special THANKS goes to our current Board of Supervisors: Chairman: Dave Schofield; Vice Chairman: Mike Moore; Members: Kelly Moss, Mathieu Etchart, Henry Conklin; Advisors: George Busey and Arnott Duncan for their efforts in conserving all of our resources. The 25 Supervisors listed have voluntarily served an estimated 336 years, an average of 13 years each.