About
Our Purpose
The mission of the Choctawhatchee River Soil and Water Conservation District is to provide the administration of programs to conserve soil and improve water quality and quantity on private lands.
About Us
Due to the Dust Bowl in the 1930’s U.S. Congress declared soil and water conservation a national policy and priority in 1935. To ensure the support of land owners on a local level, soil and water conservation districts serving conservation needs at a county level were created to work in partnership with the federal government. Today there are approximately 3,000 conservation districts nationwide that are involved in efforts as varied as their conservation needs.
The governing body of a soil and water conservation district consists of 5 elected supervisors. The office of a soil and water conservation district supervisor is nonpartisan and district wide. Candidates are elected in a general election to a 4-year term. Vacancies are filled by appointment by the remaining supervisors until the next general election. Supervisors receive no monetary compensation for their services.
The Choctawhatchee River Soil and Water Conservation District is entirely within the boundaries of Walton County, Florida and was created in March of 1940. The district’s services include selling USGS Topographical maps of Walton County, Florida.
The Charter for the creation of Choctawhatchee River Soil and Water Conservation District reads as follows:
IN THE NAME OF THE STATE OF FLORIDA TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME – GREETING: WHEREAS, Curtis A. Straughan, D. F. Adams, J. S. Adams, A. F. Bullard and G. B. Campbell have filed in the office of the Secretary of State of the State of Florida on the twenty-first day of March, A.D., 1940 an application showing the creation of a Soil Conservation District styled – CHOCTAWHATCHEE RIVER SOIL CONSERVATION DISTRICT the boundaries of which are described as follows:
“That part of Holmes County, Florida, West of the Choctawhatchee River and all of Walton County, Florida except the corporate limits of the City of DeFuniak Springs, Florida. The location of the principal office of the said Choctawhatchee River Soil Conservation District shall be in the City of DeFuniak Springs, County of Walton, State of Florida. The Secretary of State has examined the application submitted to this office for filing as provided under Chapter 18144, Laws of Florida, Acts of 1937, as amended by chapter 19473, Laws of Florida, Acts of 1939, Sections 5, A, B, C, and D, and find that said Application is in proper form and that an election was held as required in said Act to determine whether or not such a district should be created and the result of said election shows that a substantial majority of votes cast were in favor of the creation of said District. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT KNOWN, that said CHOCTAWAHTCHEE RIVER SOIL CONSERVATION DISTRICT Is authorized and permitted to transact business as a corporate entity as provided in the Act aforesaid and to exercise and enjoy all of the privileges necessary to carry out the purposes and objects for which this District is created. IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and affixed the Great Seal of the State of Florida, at Tallahassee, the Capital, this is the twenty-first day of March, A. D., 1940. R. A. Gray, Secretary of State.
In September of 1965 the District officially changed its name to Choctawhatchee River Soil and Water Conservation District.
In May of 1971 the Choctawhatchee River Soil and Water Conservation District separated that part of the District that included a portion of Holmes County, from the west bank of the Choctawhatchee River to the Walton County line, so that portion would become part of the Homes Creek Soil and Water Conservation District.