Thank you for visiting the Douglas County Conservation District website.  Here you can find information about what we do, who we are and why we’re doing it here in Douglas County.  We want to be your source for all things conservation.  Through our partner affiliations we can get you the local information to make decisions for your plant, soil, animal and water conservation needs. Conservation means the three R’s of the old days; Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.

The Douglas County Conservation District’s Mission is helping people help the land by promoting projects through education to further sustainable use of natural resources.  The district’s goal is also to balance the needs of agriculture and urban growth.

The district is governed by a volunteer Board of five Supervisors. The Board of Supervisor public meetings are typically held once a month on the fourth Monday, at 6pm, at the U.S.D.A. Service Center located on the northeast corner of Highway 83 (Parker Road) and Highway 86 in Franktown. Our office is in the same building as the Post Office. Enter the door marked “7519 A” west of the Post Office door.  Any changes to the meeting schedule is updated on the  Events Calendar.

To fulfill our mission we organize workshops, go into schools to teach kids, and we are currently working on a stream restoration project on East Plum Creek in Castle Rock.  We work with all District residents to help them discover the value of conservation as it relates to their lives and the future of Douglas County. To achieve these goals, we work closely with landowners to assist in recommending conservation practices such as windbreaks including specific seedling tree species selection, grass seed plantings to stop erosion, proper grazing management, controlling noxious weeds, and providing products to insure successful plantings. In some cases financial assistance may be available to help achieve your conservation goals. We also conduct several public workshops on various topics.  Our Events Calendar and Facebook are the outlets for this information.  Please contact our District Manager with any workshop requests.

We offer scholarships for High School students to attend Conservation “Camp Rocky” as well as College Tuition Scholarships to students pursuing a career in environmental – sciences related field, and adopt classrooms which provide conservation curriculum to schools.  See our Scholarship Page.

We offer Cost-Share Grants for Noxious Weed Mitigation and Fire Mitigation work in Douglas County.  See our Grants Page.

We receive funds from several sources such as the County and State to help our District residents. No district funding comes through direct taxation. The district does receive revenue from product sales to fund our programs as well, check out our Shop Page. 

How We Got Started
The date was late 1929, the stock market had crashed, and the Great Plains region was plunged into a severe drought. The dry, unprotected soil was ravaged by winds sending great clouds of dust rolling east across the country and out over the ocean. It was observed by members of Congress standing outside the Capitol building in Washington, DC. Concerned individuals realized this destruction of land had to be stopped.

That year, Congress provided a fund of $160,000 to study erosion. In 1935, the Soil Conservation Act was passed which provided assistance and technical expertise to farmers and ranchers. In order to reach the local landowners, states formed soil conservation districts. Through conservation efforts, dust bowl lands were brought back into agricultural production by World War II. Our district was established February 7, 1940 when the West Plum Creek soil erosion district was formed governed by a five member board of supervisors. Three years later on May 5, 1943, the Cherry Creek Soil Conservation District was formed also consisting of a five member board of supervisors. These districts came out of the landowners recognition of a need to control and prevent further deterioration of the natural resources after the drought in the 1930’s.

In 1960, a referendum was held to consolidate the two districts into the Douglas County Soil Conservation District. The new district covers nearly all of Douglas County except for the original incorporated towns and a few landowners who chose not to participate.

In 2002, the 77 Colorado “Soil Conservation Districts” removed “Soil” from their name to more accurately reflect that emphasis not be solely concerned with soil, but for all the natural resources.

Flood Protection The Douglas County Conservation District co-sponsors 22 watershed flood control dams in the county with Douglas County.