State law to provide leadership and action in conservation on nonFederal lands. Thus, they are concerned with woodland as well as crop and pasture lands. In addition to providing local conservation leadership, the districts enter into cooperative agreements with farmers whereby the facilities of the districts are made available to help the farmers carry out their conservation programs. These facilities ordinarily include specialized equipment for tree planting, trail construction, firebreak work, et cetera. Also, frequently the districts acquire and distribute tree seedlings and provide planting crews. In many cases districts provide subprofessional and clerical help from State appropriations. In addition, the districts schedule on a priority basis to farmers the technical and other services provided to the districts by the Soil Conservation Service and other agencies. As background, it should be pointed out that districts now include more than 90 percent of all privately owned farm and ranch land in the country. Furthermore, 90 percent of the woodlands in small ownership-less than 5,000 acres which comprise some 60 percent of the Nation's commercial forest, are in soil conservation districts. SCS technicians are already working daily with these small woodland owners-more than a million of them to date-providing them with basic soils information and assistance in developing conservation farm plans which include management of woodlands as well as other types of land in the enterprise. Nearly half of all trees planted on private lands in 1960 were planted on farms and ranches cooperating with soil conservation districts. Tree planting has nearly tripled in soil conservation districts since 1956. These accomplishments, of course, represent the impact of education, technical services, credit, cost-sharing, district equipment, and other resources in districts. Of major significance is that it reflects the impact of local leadership to coordinate such resources. Thus, soil conservation districts, and SCS, are already playing a major and growing role in the woodland picture. The work of SCS with small woodland owners effectively complements the work of the State forestry departments in several ways: 1. SCS is the source of soil survey information which is essential to all other aspects of technical and financial help on woodlands, and which is an integral part of any planning for woodland conservation and improvement. SCS is already providing this kind of information to nearly 2 million farmers and ranchers as a foundation for their conservation planning on all kinds of land. 2. Some landowners are ready for specialized help but many more are not. State forestry department specialized help in professional forestry services cruising, marking, measuring, et cetera-is most effective with owners whose woodlands are in productive condition and ready to be managed on a sustained-yield basis. It is estimated that only 20 percent of the Nation's small woodlands are now in that productive condition. Small woodland owners who are cooperators with soil conservation districts have found that they are in especially advantageous position to obtain help from a variety of sources-Federal, State, and localthat will help them bring their woodlands into productive conditions. A key means of doing this has been the development of a conservation plan for the sound and effective use of all soil, water, and plant resources in the farm enterprise. 3. SCS now helps a landowner develop this conservation plan which treats the woodland as an integral part of the total enterprise. For woodland, as for other kinds of land, the SCS technician first interprets soils information in terms of suitability for kinds of trees, for wood crop production, and for possible economic returns. He helps the landowner, then, plan and apply the basic woodland conservation practices that help to make efficient and productive use of that kind of land. 4. SCS further helps the landowner obtain cost-sharing to help carry out provisions of the plan. He suggests to the landowner what kind of professional forestry services are needed and when. He informs the landowner of the possibility of loans for woodland development through Farmers Home Administration or other sources, and in many other ways encourages him to get his existing and potential woodland into permanently productive condition. Most SCS technicians are now prepared to give landowners this type of help, the objective of which is to help the woodland owner reach the position where he may effectively use and profit by the specialized forestry services from public or private sources. The technicians capable of performing this breadth of service are able to do so because they have been trained by professional foresters. The Soil Conservation Service contributes directly to a program of more efficient production and utilization of the Nation's forest crops in the following ways: 1. We provide soil survey coverage and interpretation so as to obtain and disseminate soil-woodland site information needed for woodland conservation and improvement. 2. We give emphasis and encouragement to sound and needed conservation measures on woodlands in the course of providing conservation planning assistance to all farmers whose enterprises include woodland. This includes public information efforts as well as on-site assistance to individual landowners. We propose to recognize in the agency budget estimates for 1963 the additional resources needed by the Soil Conservation Service to implement its part in any stepped-up USDA effort under present or proposed legislation in the field of woodland conservation and management. To summarize: The SCS is already in contact with a large part of the Nation's farmers. It already has had experience with an effective framework of localState-Federal cooperation with farmers through their local soil conservation districts. The Service is the source of basic soil and water data, and the interpretations of such data, needed as a foundation to any effective woodland improvement program. The services described herein are already being provided to a substantial number of small woodland owners. Public Law 46 of the 74th Congress provides the basic authority necessary to do any of this work. During the 25 years of operation under this law, tremendous progress has been made in conserving and improving the small woodland areas of the country in the soil conservation district program alone. There are opportunities for accelerating this phase of the program in soil conservation districts. It can be achieved by such steps as I have outlined, and by bringing to bear upon it more effective cooperation between the several Federal, State, and local agencies. Mr. ANDERSEN. Thank you, Mr. Williams. Mr. WHITTEN. We shall turn now to the title, "Conservation operations." JUSTIFICATION OF THE ESTIMATE I should like to have pages 181 through 201 of the justifications, volume I, in the record. broded costs for 1960 are $81,354,594. The difference of $31,028 reflects, pri A sputumns used in 1960 over orders placed in that year. STATUS OF PROGRAM The set of April 27, 1935 (16 U.S.C. 590a-590f), in recogCIN WISCALE of soil and moisture resources on farm, ranch, and forest I NEne resalting from soil erosion and the damages caused thereby, * mai i team of measures to be carried out to prevent it. The work of jenging soon needed land use adjustments and planning and establishing soil Sysvoiton measures on farm and ranch lands, which the act proest des aed on primarily in cooperation with soil conservation disThese Èstricts are local units of government organized under State BASTAL SERVIsthee to the landowners and operators in the districts and to wesomes They are founded upon the sound principle of local ZOL and control and are formed only in response to the petition A rendum vote of the landowners and operators within the Este Nandar By the end of the 1960 fiscal year 2,867 soil conservation pesos hmä deen organized in all 50 States, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Siwwyneists and other technicians of the Soil Conservation Service med to work with farmers and ranchers in developing conservation murs #709 soride for proper land use and the application of right comWinds of so water, and plant conservation measures on their individual **** ***s Service personnel also provide needed engineering and che sono assistance in establishing planned measures. Thus the prac sot epesme of the farm or ranch operator is combined with the scientific knowledge and skills of professional conservationists who have proficiency in a wide range of technical fields, in planning and carrying out locally adapted programs of soil and water conservation. The following types of assistance are being furnished to landowners and operators under this item: 1. The services of soil scientists who make standard soil surveys and conduct special soils investigations essential to successful conservation planning and the making of sound recommendations for the use and treatment of each acre of agricultural land. The soil surveys are conducted cooperatively with the land grant colleges and other State and Federal agencies. Published survey reports and soil maps provide valuable information also needed in other Federal, State, county, and local programs involving land use. Appropriate detailed soils investigations are also made to guide structural design or conservation practice specifications in special or unusual cases. 2. The services of professional soil conservationist and other technical specialists who help farmers and ranchers plan individual conservation programs for their farms or ranches. These jointly developed programs for the orderly adjustment of the use and treatment of the land are consistent with the land facts disclosed by the soil survey, and the labor, equipment, and financial resources of the landowners and operators. 3. The services of engineers, soil conservationists, aids, and other technicians who provide assistance to farmers and ranchers in installing conservation measures on their lands. This help includes necessary site investigations, surveys, preparation of construction plans and specifications, and performance inspection. 4. Technical assistance to group enterprises on soil conservation and water control problems that can best be solved by group action of landowners and operators. These problems may involve irrigation or drainage of valuable agricultural land, or stabilization of critical erosion and runoff areas to protect agricultural, industrial, or urban properties from flooding and sediment damage. Service engineers and other specialists provide consultation and technical assistance for the investigation, design, and installation of the needed treatment measures. 5. The grant to soil conservation districts of earthmoving and other special types of equipment which is acquired from Federal Government surplus at no cost to the Soil Conservation Service. The districts schedule this equipment for use by farmers or ranchers in establishing conservation practices on their lands. Generally this equipment is the kind that is not readily available locally or is not attainable at reasonable cost to the farm or ranch operator. 6. Water supply forecasts developed from snow surveys in the Western States which serve as a basis for planning for efficient seasonal utilization of available water for irrigation and other purposes. 7. The selection and testing of promising conservation plant materials to determine their suitability for erosion control purposes, and cooperation with commercial concerns to promote adequate production, propagation, and utilization of new and uncommon strains of vegetative planting materials for conserva tion uses. 8. Technical assistance to agricultural conservation program participants in the planning, layout, and establishment of specified conservation practices, both within and outside conservation districts. The major share of the total cost of this work is reimbursed to the Service from ACP funds allocated to the respective county agricultural stabilization and conservation committees. In addition, in cooperation with other Federal, State, and local agencies or groups, some special technical assistance on conservative measures, soil characteristics and limitations, and land use problems is also given to farmers, ranchers, public and quasi-public organizations, and other groups, both inside and outside of conservation districts. (Only about 5 percent of the farms and ranches and about 9 percent of the land in farms in the continental United States is outside of organized conservation districts.) For example, borrowers under the soil and water conservation loan program of the Farmers Home Administration are usually provided with investigative, design, specification, and installation services for the structures or measures for which loans are made. Consultation and some planning and installation services are also being provided to other departmental agencies, and to such organizations as State agricultural experiment stations, State highway departments, city and county planning or zoning boards, school boards, and tax commissions on runoff and 69248-61-pt. 2——16 |