OETA teams up with Oklahoma Conservation Partnership to launch Dust Bowl education project

DUST BOWL / DUST STORM: Caption reads, "HERE SHE COMES--This wirephoto, made on a ranch near Boise City in Cimarron county, shows the approach of Sunday's dust storm. The sun had not set when the blow began and some of the lighter dust clouds reflected its rays, but part of the dust was solid black against the sun." Associated Press Wirephoto. Published 4/16/1935 in The Daily Oklahoman This photo ran a second time, 6/27/1971 (O-6-27-71E) in The Daily Oklahoman with the following caption: A 'black roller' dust storms swirls down on a ranch yard near Boise City, Okla., in 1935. In the 'Dust Bowl' year from 1934 through 1938, there were 263 such dust storms recorded in Texas and Oklahoma alone. Some areas lost as much as a foot of topsoil to the winds. (AP Photo) This photo ran a third time in The Daily Oklahoman on 8/29/1976 with the following caption: Black dusters like this 1938 storm near Boise City brought hard times to Oklahoma farmers during the Depression years. (Date discrepancy was published as typed here.)

OETA has teamed up with the Oklahoma Conservation Partnership to launch a statewide community engagement initiative to examine the history and lessons of Oklahoma’s experience of the Dust Bowl, according to a news release.

The Oklahoma Conservation Partnership is made up of the Oklahoma Association of Conservation Districts (OACD), the Oklahoma Conservation Commission and the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS),

The Dust Bowl education project was put together to work in conjunction with the fall premiere of a new PBS documentary from acclaimed filmmaker Ken Burns (“The Civil War,” “Baseball,” “The War.”)

“The Dust Bowl,” a two-part, four-hour film, debuts at 7 p.m. Nov. 18 on OETA and documents the history of the Dust Bowl and its causes, but primarily centers on Oklahoma and the state’s dust bowl survivors.

The Dust Bowl education project will include screenings and panel discussions across the state, locally produced Dust Bowl content, customized classroom materials, survivor story collection, social networking and multi-media projects, along with a comprehensive web site at www.oeta.tv/dustbowl containing event details and community resources.

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