1. Decrease in population due to decreasing employment opportunities. 2. Farm abandonment.

3. Low farm income.

4. Erosion and drainage problems.

5. Increase in idle and unproductive land.

6. Low streamflow.

7. Inadequate treatment of strip-mined areas.

8. Need for additional recreational developments.

9. Stream pollution.

10. Inadequate development and use of water potential.

11. Need for improved woodland management and wood-using industries. 12. Need for improvement and development of fish and wildlife habitat. 13. Need for increasing rate of conservation treatment. 14. Need for development of historic sites.

1. Enhance family farm through

(a) Expanding pastures, meadows, and hayland.

(b) Income-producing recreation.

(c) Increase income through reforestation and development of wood product industries.

(d) Better management of soil resources.

2. Convert land unsuited for cropland to woodland (90,000 acres).

3. Need for community development of natural resources.

4. Acceleration of conservation treatment of land.

5. Inadequate development of water resources.

6. Development of land and water for wildlife including purchase of 15,000 to 25,000 acres of marshlands.

7. Farm abandonment.

8. Need for low interest rates and long-term loans for

(a) Development of new enterprises.
(b) Upgrade recreational enterprises.

9. Need for recreational developments-public and private.
10. Unemployment and underemployment.

PROJECT PROBLEMS LISTED BY LOCAL SPONSORING ORGANIZATIONS

1. Rapid, uncontrolled urbanization.

2. Lack of soil survey maps and needed interpretations for urban, agricultural, recreation, and industrial use.

3. Lack of long-range plan for orderly development of rural areas.

4. Need for development of water resources of the project area so that they can provide the greatest good for the greatest number of people.

5. Need for a woodland inventory to determine the land use, proper management, and improvement of woodland areas.

6. Need for establishing and developing income-producing recreation on private lands.

7. Present technical assistance in planning with individual landowners is not fast enough to keep up with shifting land use and population changes.

PROJECT PROBLEMS LISTED BY SPONSORING ORGANIZATIONS

1. Development of natural resources to provide additional economic opportunities.

2. Management of woodlands for maximum production of forest products and maple sirup.

3. Multiple use of woodlands not suited for timber production. 4. Farm abandonment.

5. Need for assistance to family farm operators to develop efficient economic units.

5. Inadequate development of water resources for domestic, industrial, and recreational use.

7. Need for orderly development of lands to nonagricultural uses. 8. Development of abandoned lands for wildlife use.

9. Inadequate development of recreation potential.

PROJECT PROBLEMS LISTED BY SPONSORING ORGANIZATIONS

1. Present size of many of the landholdings is so small that families cannot make a living.

2. Available irrigation water is below minimum needs for farms in the irrigated valleys.

3. Water runoff from the adjoining uplands periodically damages valuable irrigated valley land and towns and cities.

4. Community and individual irrigation systems need consolidation and rehabilitation to conserve and make most efficient use of available irrigation water. 5. Assistance is needed in selecting and growing crops adaptable to the area which will most nearly fit the land and labor resources of the area.

6. Lack of processing, storage, and marketing facilities restrict opportunities for greatest income from farm crops.

7. Unemployment has long plagued the area. Size of farms and lack of storage and marketing facilities require that farm people need off-farm employment opportunities.

8. Construction of roads, trails, and tourist facilities are needed to develop tourism and recreation to contribute to the local economy.

1. Over 50,000 acres are soils with relatively steep slopes and subject to severe erosion.

2. There is a vital need for land use adjustments as determined by the conservation needs inventory.

3. Adverse weather and extreme climatic fluctuations contribute to economic failure and human suffering.

4. Steep slopes and deep channels draining into the river and larger creeks have caused severe gullying which serves as a source of sediment going into the Missouri River reservoirs.

5. Pasture and rangeland need better management and development of feed reserves is needed to stabilize livestock operations.

6. Rapid expansion of recreational areas adjacent to reservoirs and wildlife areas on adjacent tributaries and uplands is needed to meet the rapidly growing tourist demands.

7. Most cities and towns in the area have serious water problems due mainly to the quality of ground water available.

1. Land-use maladjustments—farming of lands unsuited to agriculture.

2. Poor utilization of forest production.

3. Inadequate size of farm-operating units.

4. Unemployment and underemployment.

5. Underdeveloped recreational resources.

6. Slow rate of conservation treatment of farm and forest lands.

7. Roadside erosion and inadequate drainage.

8. Pollution of surface waters.

9. Streambank erosion.

10. Lagging industrial growth due to inadequate use of resource base. 11. Insufficient multiple-purpose access roads.

12. Vegetative buildup of lakes.

13. Deterioration of old dams and reservoirs.

14. Inadequate youth training camp facilities.

15. Decrease in number of family farms.

16. Declining population.

17. Substandard housing.

PROJECT PROBLEMS LISTED BY SPONSORING ORGANIZATIONS

1. Maladjustments in land use. The topographic and soils conditions cause close intermingling of land capability classes, making it difficult to farm the capability classes IV and VI separately. Consequently much capability class IV and VI land is being used for annual crops to the detriment of these and lower lying lands.

2. Soil and water problems.-(a) Serious erosion losses (150 tons or more per acre) occur during snow-melt period in February or March.

(b) Deposition of eroded soils on adjacent lower lying lands kills or seriously damages planted crops.

(c) Flash floods causing field erosion, development of gullies, and deposition on farm and public roads, in reservoirs, and causes sedimentation of water

courses.

(d) Mismanagement and clearing of forest soils has caused serious erosion problems. Recreational areas along streams and lakes are damaged from silt originating from mismanaged, highly eroded woodlands.

(e) Erosion of the forest soils, now cultivated, is causing difficulties in establishing badly needed legumes, and is requiring use of increasing amounts of soil amendments and fertilizers for successful crop production.

3. Inadequacies in recreational facilities.—(a) Recreational facilities are not adequately developed or distributed throughout project area.

(b) Many of the recreational facilities or sites are deteriorating due to erosion, sedimentation or distribution of cover.

(c) Development of recreational facilities hampered by lack of financial resources, or unawareness of recreational opportunities.

4. Economic conditions.-(a) Returns from wheat production, for which the area is particularly suited, is considerably higher than from other crops. This has resulted in owners maintaining the highest possible acreage in wheat under wheat allotments. This has caused cultivation of unsuited lands to develop and maintain a wheat acreage history. Needed conversion of unsuited lands to hay and pasture results in loss of allotment acreage and economically penalizes the operators who follow sound land use practices.

(b) Absentee ownership is high and renting results in and encourages soil exploitation. Short-term leases discourages application of a conservation system of farming.

(c) Livestock operations are faced with long winter feeding periods. Markets for milk and dairy products inadequate.

(d) Depressed lumber markets and lack of suitable outlets for small woodland products has resulted in an overall detrimental effect on business and economic development of the area.

PROJECT PROBLEMS LISTED BY SPONSORING ORGANIZATIONS

1. Division of agricultural land to other purposes: Lands best suited to agricultural uses being diverted for urbanization, industrial, reservoir, roads, and other uses.

2. Water supply: Total water supply more than adequate. However, seasonal supply during summer months becoming inadequate for rapidly increasing demand for municipal, industrial, agricultural, and fish and wildlife uses. ages particularly severe in smaller watersheds.

Short

3. Drainage: Approximately 163,000 acres of the presently cultivated soils have a major problem of excessive wetness, which greatly limits proper and economic use of these lands.

4. Floodwater damage: Winter flooding (November-March) causes significant agricultural and nonagricultural damages and reduces economic opportunities. Urban areas are periodically flooded, which not only causes damage, but limits further development due to flood hazards.

5. Erosion: Erosion from woodlands, streambanks and agricultural lands causes an estimated soil loss of 1 million cubic yards annually.

6. Examples of project actions: Big game damages in intermingled agricultural forested areas.

The resource conservation and development project program is a new activity and just getting started. Local sponsors are now actively engaged in the preliminary stages of developing project plans for action in their areas. In every project area sponsors have conducted initial meetings with local people and with representatives of local, State, and Federal agencies to lay the groundwork for a coordinated effort to plan the conservation and development of the natural resources of the project area for the economic betterment of the community.

Local sponsors and other local groups will provide leadership and will contribute to the financial cost of project activities. They will seek out and advise those with investment capital of opportunities within the area and undertake on their own initiative project activities essential to the development of the

area.

Some project sponsors have already pushed ahead in starting development of natural resources in their project areas. The initial reaction from local leaders is one of optimistic enthusiasm for this program. An example of such local action took place in the west central Minnesota resource conservation and development project. Beginning with enthusiasm and vision, the Wadena County sponsors have combined their own efforts and facilities with a little assistance from State and Federal agencies to create a 70-mile canoe trail along the beautiful and historic Crow Wing River. Eight camping sites are established and being equipped. They will be ready for nature lovers and fishermen by June 1, 1964. The project sponsors with cooperation of local business firms have prepared a brochure describing this new community asset in Wadena County and are distributing them widely. A short news article on this venture in resource development in a Minneapolis paper brought over 800 inquiries about it to the sponsors.

Swift County in the same project area is moving ahead. Local sponsors are already at work obtaining easements and rights-of-way for the reconstruction of a dam near Swift Falls. This, they expect to be the forerunner of a sizable recreational development along the East Chippewa River involving a series of shallow impoundments to provide fishing, hunting and canoeing, which will attract people to the area and thus generate more income and more jobs for local people.

In the Indiana Lincoln Hills resource conservation and development project area, the four counties involved have a long history of close cooperation. They do, however, feel that in a project approach with concentrated, coordinated public assistance that they can get a much better job done than if each county and each agency goes ahead on its own. However, to quote from their R.C. & D. project application, "In fact, we are not waiting for anyone. We can't afford to. Here's proof (by counties)."

Crawford County

1. Preparing applications for ARA Assistance to develop limestone and gypsum deposits.

2. Local committee has optioned 7,000 acres for possible gypsum develop

ment.

3. Towns of English, Leavenworth, Alton, Fredonia, and Cape Sandy are investigating ways and means of securing adequate water supplies.

4. Watershed and channel clearance actions are being explored prior to technical investigation.