“With this year’s Soil Stewardship week theme titled, ‘Dig it! The Secrets of Soil’ the Mason County Soil & Water Conservation District is proud to join with the National Association of Conservation Districts (NACD) to celebrate this historical 53-year observance which will be officially celebrated April 26-May 3, 2009”, said Reuben Geistweidt, chairman of the Mason County SWCD.

NACD is using the 2009 theme, “Dig It! The Secrets of Soil,” in partnership with the Smithsonian Institution and Soil Science Society of America. NACD’s stewardship and education material developed through this collaboration complements the Smithsonian “Dig It! The Secrets of Soil,” exhibition, which will run July 19, 2008 through January 3, 2010 at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. The exhibition is then planned to travel to museums across the United States from May 2010 to September 2013.

“Historically, in 1955, the National Association of Conservation Districts began a national program to encourage Americans to focus on stewardship. The stewardship concept involves a personal and social responsibility which includes a duty to learn about and improve natural resources for the purpose of using them wisely in order to leave a rich legacy for future generations,” said Geistweidt.

The program relies on locally led soil and water conservation districts nationwide sharing and promoting stewardship and conservation activities. Districts throughout Texas provide conservation and stewardship field days, programs, workshops and additional outreach efforts throughout their communities to educate citizens about the need to care for soil, water and related renewable natural resources.

Mason County will have its first ever Soil Survey completed by 2010. A public meeting is being planned for a release of the Web Soil Survey product in September 2009. For more information, contact the local Mason County SWCD office at 325-347-5749.