TN Soil and Water Conservation District Board Election Qualifications

• Each Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) has a 5-member board of local leaders, called supervisors, whose role is to work within their district to reduce soil erosion and improve water quality and partnering with farmer landowners to create conservation plans on their operations.
• For the purposes of voting for and nominating a SWCD board supervisor, a landowner is defined as “any person who holds legal or equitable title to any lands within a district” [TCA §43-14-202(6)].
• This definition is very broad, with no minimum acreage requirement to be able to vote and sign a nominating petition.
• In the state of Alabama, anyone eligible to elect SWCD board supervisors must own farm, forest, or grazing lands.

1. Do you actively participate in SWCD board supervisor elections in your district?
2. Should a minimum acreage requirement exist for persons voting for or nominating a SWCD board supervisor? If so, what minimum?
3. Should the definition of “landowner” as it relates to election and nomination of SWCD board supervisors change? If so, how?

Soil and Water Conservation Districts (SWCDs) were authorized in Tennessee in 1939 when the Soil Conservation District Act was signed into law. At that time, the federal government had established the Soil Conservation Service, currently known as the Natural Resources Conservation Service, to better address soil erosion and runoff concerns. Over the next twenty years, every county in Tennessee had organized a SWCD.  Each SWCD has a 5-member board of local leaders, called supervisors, whose role is to work within their district to reduce soil erosion and improve water quality and partnering with farmer landowners to create conservation plans on their operations. Election and appointment for the 95 SWCD boards is governed by state statute in Title 43, Chapter 14 of Tennessee Code. Supervisors can serve 3 terms running from April 1^st to March 31^st, and elections are staggered on a 3-year cycle. A person is eligible to serve as a SWCD board supervisor if they meet the following criteria:

• The person must obtain 25 district landowner signatures on a nominating petition and submit it by the given deadline; and,
• The person’s primary residence must be within the district where they are elected or appointed [TCA §43-14-214(b)(1) and 214(d)(1)].

For the purposes of voting for and nominating a SWCD board supervisor, a landowner is defined as “any person who holds legal or equitable title to any lands within a district” [TCA §43-14-202(6)]. This definition is very broad, with no minimum acreage requirement to be able to vote and sign a nominating petition. The only requirement is that the voter’s name must be on the deed or title to the land. TFBF does not have policy related to who is eligible to elect SWCD board supervisors.

In the state of Alabama, landowners are defined as “any person, firm or corporation who shall hold legal or equitable title to any farm, forest, or grazing lands lying within a district” [Code of Alabama §9-8-20(9)]. This means that anyone eligible to elect SWCD board supervisors in the state of Alabama must own farm, forest, or grazing lands.

Tennessee Farm Bureau
Soil Conservation (Partial)

Membership of the Tennessee Soil and Water Conservation Commission should represent production agriculture. More representatives of non-agricultural organizations would increase the possibility of diverting future soil conservation funding from agricultural conservation needs to other projects.