USDA Visitors Center - MANAGING Our Natural Resources

No matter where you live--city or country; mountains, plains, or coast--you depend on soil, water, air, plants, and animals for living every day. These natural resources are the source of our food, building materials, clothing, and recreation.

Like other things we depend on, these natural resources must be used with care. They don't come in an unlimited supply.

How people use one resource affects the others, because--like everything in nature--these resources are part of an ecosystem, or web of life. If we understand how the ecosystem functions, we can manage the resources better to protect the individual parts and to benefit the ecosystem as a whole.

USDA plays a major role in managing our natural resources. Its long-term goal is to identify and protect sustainable ecosystems that meet the needs of this generation--without compromising the welfare of future generations.