Northeast-Iowa writer, dairy farmer, and policymaker Paul W Johnson sloughed off his mortal coil in February 2021.
Paul milking his Jerseys (1975)
In the Iowa House of Representatives …
Paul bridged rural and urban communities, corralling legislators to support pioneering soil, water, and energy conservation policy.
As Bill Clinton’s chief of the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) …
Paul helped evolve national farm policy away from agriculture price supports and toward paying farmers to be stewards of the land.
As Tom Vilsack’s head of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) …
Paul expanded support for conservation easements, buffer strips, and prairie and wetland restoration.
“A land comprised of wilderness islands at one extreme and urban islands at the other, with vast food and fiber factories in between, does not constitute a geography of hope. But private land need not be devoted to a single-purpose enterprise. With a broader understanding of land and our place within the landscape, our Nation’s farms, ranches, and private forest land can and do serve the multiple functions that we and all other life depend upon.” —Paul W Johnson in America’s Private Lands: A Geography of Hope
NRCS, USDA (1997)
“During the last 70 years … Iowans’ understanding of their place in the land community began to mature … The soil conservation movement began … The river became cleaner as Iowans took more responsibility for their personal and community behavior … It is now your turn to help paint our portrait on the land. You will add color every day as you make personal and community decisions on how you live.” —Paul W Johnson in Iowa—Portrait of the Land
Iowa DNR (2000)
Selected tributes to Paul
Paul speaking during his first Iowa House term (1985)
The Paul booklet
Prior to Paul’s celebration of life in June 2021, his former colleague Iowa Senator Charlie Bruner collated a collection of Paul’s writings.
Paul birdwatching (1993)
The Paul vid
In preparation for the December 2021 Johnson Center for Land Stewardship Policy initiative launch, we commissioned Iowa videographer Kent Newman to assemble a nine-minute piece giving an idea of where Paul’s ideas came from, where they got to, and where they’re pointing.
Paul, on his farm near Decorah, on his beloved 620 with two of his six granddaughters (2007)
Paul wrote a lot … from his doctoral thesis, to his regular legislative updates in the local paper, to Des Moines Register editorials, to dozens of speeches, to later-years essays. Many are online. The “Paul booklet” above includes the best-known. This bibliography casts a wider net.