Conserving the Dust Bowl: The New Deal’s Prairie States Forestry Project (Reading the American Landscape)

Growing, contemporary support for protecting the American rural landscape against commodification for human consumption is rooted in New Deal-era policies that sought to maintain and build upon the natural environmental benefits of existing ecosystems. This inspired tactic is perhaps best illustrated by the Prairie States Forestry Project (PSFP), established by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1935. The PSFP aimed to create “shelterbelts” ranging from the Texas Panhandle to the Canadian border in order to mitigate the effects of the Dust Bowl in the semiarid regions of the Great Plains. In this visionary program, thus far unexamined as a form of landscape infrastructure, Sarah and David Karle find a revealing precedent for a flexible and responsive soft system that landscape architects can draw from as they face today’s environmental challenges. Through archival research, contemporary mapping, and aerial photography, Karle and Karle make a significant contribution to the discourse on environmental policy-making, design, and activism. Conserving the Dust Bowl inspires a new generation of problem-solvers to seek bold, imaginative, and innovative solutions the ensure sustainability.