In the 1930s, farmers and their families in the American Midwest often looked to the sky dreading what they might see. No, it wasn't tornadoes that had them worried - it was dust storms that could carry away millions of tons of fertile top soil - and their livelihood - in mere minutes.In 1935, the dust storms reached Washington, D.C., and provided a platform for Hugh Hammond Bennett, advisor to President Franklin Roosevelt, to testify before Congress about the need for soil conservation legislation. That year, Congress unanimously passed legislation placing priority on soil and water conservation, which led to the establishment of local conservation districts and put in place practices to protect this vital natural resource.