New Year’s Letter from OCHS President Ben Pollard
Dear Friends of Conservation,
As we begin 2025, I want to thank you for your continued support of the Oklahoma Conservation Historical Society and share some highlights from a remarkable year of growth and achievement.
In 2024, OCHS’s traveling exhibit, "A Photographic History of Soil and Water Conservation in Oklahoma" toured the state from Woodward to Nowata and Guthrie to Sayre, with stops at the Oklahoma State Agricultural Building and the Oklahoma History Center in Oklahoma City. This exhibit helps us to engage new audiences and foster deeper appreciation for our state's conservation legacy as it continues to travel the state.
A highlight of 2024 was our celebration of the 75th anniversary of Cloud Creek No. 1 in Cordell with Congressman Frank Lucas. This event not only commemorated the first upstream flood control dam built under the 1944 Flood Control Act but also highlighted the ongoing importance of watershed conservation and infrastructure maintenance. We were honored to have Congressman Lucas and conservation dignitaries from across Oklahoma join us in Cordell to celebrate conservation’s past accomplishments and discuss future challenges.
Other accomplishments of note: Thanks to support from an Oklahoma Historical Society Preservation Heritage Grant, we completed a comprehensive rebranding initiative that will help us better tell the story of conservation in Oklahoma. You can see the results for yourself on our new homepage at https://www.oklahomaconservationhistory.org/
We also continued to expand our oral history collection. We have now collected fifty-four oral histories, preserving crucial firsthand accounts and visual documentation of conservation efforts across the state. You can visit the collection on the Oklahoma State University libraries website here: https://library.okstate.edu/search-and-find/collections/digital-collections/oklahoma-conservation-heritage-oral-history-collection
Looking ahead to 2025, OCHS will observe the 90th anniversary of Black Sunday, April 14, 1935, a key moment in the Dust Bowl that helped to catalyze creation of our national program of soil and water conservation. We will mark the occasion with special events in April at Guymon, Oklahoma City, and Stillwater. Stay tuned for more information.
Finally, I invite you to join us at our annual meeting, held in conjunction with the OACD state meeting, February 23rd at the Embassy Suites in Norman. More details about our annual meeting and a reception to follow will be shared soon.
Your support makes our work possible. Whether you're a longtime member or considering joining OCHS for the first time, I encourage you to visit our website to learn more about membership opportunities and how you can help preserve Oklahoma's rich conservation legacy for future generations. You can join us here: https://www.oklahomaconservationhistory.org/join-donate
Thank you for your commitment to conservation history.
Sincerely,
Ben Pollard
President, Oklahoma Conservation Historical Society