About AISWCD
Mission
To represent and empower Illinois’ Soil and Water Conservation Districts.
The Association of Illinois Soil and Water Conservation Districts (AISWCD), is a grass roots organization formed in 1948. It is made up and serves Illinois' 98 member Soil and Water Conservation Districts (SWCDs). The AISWCD's board members are representatives from local SWCD's. Each local District is governed by an elected five member board. Members of each local board represent their district at the Land Use Council (LUC) level. Each of the 16 Council's elects one Director to the voting body of the AISWCD Board of Directors.
AISWCD Structure
The Association of Illinois Soil and Water Conservation Districts is a not-for-profit organization governed by a board of directors who represent the state’s 98 Illinois Soil and Water Conservation Districts.
The Association takes its direction from its member Soil and Water Conservation Districts, each one a unique local governmental entity mandated by state statute to protect the land, water and related resources located within its boarders.
Each SWCD is governed by a five-member locally elected board of directors and empowered to enter into private and public partnerships to conduct programs that will protect, conserve and enhance the natural resources over which it has responsibility.
Soil and Water Conservation Districts are non taxing units of government and receive their funding through appropriations made by the Illinois General Assembly and from local sources including county and municipal governments.
Challenges & Solutions
"The wealth of Illinois lies in her soil and her future in its intelligent development"- Andrew S. Draper
Illinois is blessed with some of the most productive soils in the world. Many of these same soils are also desirable for uses other than food and fiber production. Seeking balance in the use of these finite resources in an intelligent manner that will assure their ability to sustain future generations is the challenge facing all Illinoisans. SWCDs help Illinois citizens respond to these and other natural resource challenges with local control and local solutions. Often, they build partnerships with other agencies and organizations, including the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, the Illinois Department of Agriculture, The Illinois Department of Natural Resources, the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency and other state and federal agencies, municipalities, counties and private organizations.
Five Decades of Conservation Download - Requires Adobe Reader which may be downloaded for free here.
Five Decades of Conservation . . . A History of the Soil and Water Conservation Movement in Illinois By: Robert E. Craft and Leo G. Windish. It is the intent of this book and history of Soil and Water Conservation districts to credit as many as possible of those who have provided soil and water conservation leadership, to recount some of the trials and tribulations experienced in getting planned land use and soil conservation practices on the land, and to list some local successes along the way.