The earliest incarnation of the Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources was in 1937 when the legislature established the State Soil Conservation Committee (Laws of Minnesota 1937, chapter 441, section 3). This committee helped organize soil and water conservation districts throughout the state and provided them with promotional, financial, and administrative assistance.
In the 1950s, the Soil Conservation Committee became part of the University of Minnesota Soils Department. In 1967, its name changed to the Soil and Water Conservation Commission (Laws of Minn. 1967, chap. 16). The commission stayed in the university's Soils Department until it was transferred to the Department of Natural Resources in 1971 (Laws of Minn. 1971, Ex. Sess., chap. 44, sec. 6).
The committee's name changed again to the Soil and Water Conservation Board in 1975 (Laws of Minn. 1975, chap. 271) and in 1982, it was transferred to the Department of Agriculture (Reorganization Order no. 120 and Laws of Minn. 1983, chap. 66). At that time, its membership consisted of seven members appointed by the governor and five agency personnel representing the University of Minnesota Institute of Agriculture, the Agricultural Extension Service, the Minnesota Department of Agriculture, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, and the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.
In 1987, the Legislature combined the Soil and Water Conservation Board with two other organizations with local government and natural resource ties, the Water Resources Board and the Southern Minnesota Rivers Basin Council (Laws of Minn. 1987, chap. 358, sec. 103) following a report by an interim study group. This merger formed the Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources as we know it today.