Mr. Chairman, based upon the history of this area for its belief in, and development of, effective conservation measures, based upon the benefits which have already accrued to the area and the additional benefits which will be realized, approvel of the Little Delaware-Mission Creeks watershed project appears to be in the best interests of this Nation's watershed program. I respectfully submit that this project is worthy of favorable consideration, and I would trust that this subcommittee so agrees.

Thank you for this opportunity to make this statement in behalf of the project.

Mr. POAGE Has anyone any questions?

Mr. DOLE. You are for the project?

Mr. MIZE. Very much so.

Mr. POAGE. The committee will take judicial knowledge of that.
Mr. MIZE. I would appreciate your consideration.

LOWER BAYOU TECHE WATERSHED, LOUISIANA

Mr. POAGE. The next project will be Lower Bayou Teche watershed, Louisiana, in Mr. Willis' district.

Is there anyone here representing Congressman Willis this morning? (No response.)

Mr. POAGE. We shall be glad to hear the explanation from the Department.

LOWER BAYOU TECHE WATERSHED WORK PLAN

Size and location: 188,700 acres in Iberia, Vermilion, Lafayette and St. Mary Parishes, La.

Tributary to: Gulf of Mexico.

Sponsors: Iberia Parish police jury; and Iberia-Vermilion, Grand Coteau Ridge, and St. Mary Soil & Water Conservation Districts.

Purposes: Watershed protection, flood prevention, and agricultural water management.

Principal measures: Soil conservation practices on farms; and structural measures consisting of 132 miles of channel improvement and three water control structures.

Benefit-cost ratio: 1.7 to 1.

ratio is 1.5 to 1.

Area benefited: 130,225 acres.

With secondary benefits excluded, the benefit-cost

Number of beneficiaries: The project will be of direct benefit to 750 farm units.

1 This is primarily the cost of applying land treatment measures by landowners. Cost sharing from Federal funds appropriated for the agricultural conservation program may be available if included in the county program developed each year in consideration of approved State and National programs and the annual authorization by the Congress.

2 Consisting of—

Construction cost for agricultural water management.

Land, easements, and rights-of-way

Administration of contracts.

3 The value of measures already applied ($1,311,790) increases this to 71 percent.

Prorated Public Law 566 structural cost per acre benefited: $7. Carrying out the project: The Iberia Parish Police Jury assumes all local responsibilities for installing, operating, and maintaining the structural measures. The estimated annual cost of operation and maintenance is $48,610.

Mr. WELD. Lower Bayou Teche watershed is located in south-central Louisiana, with portions of it in Iberia, Vermilion, Lafayette, and St. Mary Parishes. It drains into the gulf, and the main direction of drainage is in a somewhat southwesterly direction.

The elevations in this watershed range from about 30 feet above sea level in the upper portions to approximate sea level in the lower.

The land use of the watershed is 43-percent cropland, 12-percent grassland, 5-percent woodland, and 34-percent marsh. There are 800 farms in the watershed, having an average size of about 210 acres.

Basic conservation plans have been developed on 55 percent of the watershed, and approximately 40 percent of the needed land treatment measures have already been applied.

The main problems in this watershed are related to the inadequate capacity of the drainageways which serve both flood prevention and agricultural water management or drainage. At present these channels are only able to carry the runoff from storms which might be expected to occur on the average of twice in a year.

In addition to that, there is a large area of marsh rangeland down in the lower portion of the watershed which is gradually deteriorating due to the intrusion of salt water. This is primarily a fresh water marshland, and due to tidal action the saline waters are getting in there, which greatly reduces the desirable grasses and, in turn, salttolerant grasses which are of low value are replacing them.

The project which the sponsors have developed is designed to provide the necessary control of the surface runoff, improve the drainage out

lets so on-farm drainage facilities can operate, and also hold back and control the salt water intrusion.

The project as developed consists of needed land treatment measures and 132 miles of multi-purpose channels, together with three water control structures.

The cost of the structural measures and land treatment measures included in the project totals $2,775,536. Of this amount, $1,188,363, or 43 percent, will be borne by Public Law 566 funds, whereas the local people will bear $1,585,173, representing 57 percent of the total cost. In addition to this, the local sponsors will bear an annual operation and maintenance cost of $48,610.

A total of 130,225 acres will be benefited by the project, and 750 farm units are represented in the benefited area. The Public Law 566 structural post per acre benefited is very low, being $7 per acre. Benefits accruing from this project total $209,457 annually.

The channels which are being provided will provide a 2-year level of protection against storm rainfall and runoff.

The salt marsh area will be stabilized through the construction of these three control structures which have two-way gates. In other words, they can control the release of fresh water when an excessive amount occurs, letting it out. On the other side they have gates which prevent the intrusion of the normal tidewater.

The project is not based in any way on the increased production of crops in the surplus category. In fact, there will be a reduction in the acreage of these crops. The crops mainly in that category are rice and sugarcane. This is quite a sugarcane-producing area.

The benefit-cost ratio which this project provides is very favorable. Excluding the secondary benefits, it gives us a 1.5-to-1 ratio.

Mr. POAGE. Will you tell us where this project is with relation to Morgan City? Is it just east of Morgan City? Where is the Atchafalaya River?

Mr. WELD. It is over here [indicating].

Mr. POAGE. Then it must be west of Morgan City.

Mr. WELD. It comes in from the east side. New Iberia is a town located in the watershed right here [indicating].

Mr. GATHINGS. May I interject a word, Mr. Chairman. This project represents one of the largest contributions from local sources that I have ever had occasion to hear presented to this subcommittee, as far as I know. The value of measures already applied, $1,311,790, will increase the local contribution to 71 percent of the total.

Mr. POAGE. We shall be glad to hear from Congressman Willis who has just come in at this time.

STATEMENT OF HON. EDWIN E. WILLIS, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF LOUISIANA

Mr. WILLIS. Mr. Chairman, I appreciate very much this opportunity to appear in behalf of the many thousands of my constituents who are vitally interested in the lower Bayou Teche watershed project now before your subcommittee. It is always a great satisfaction to speak in behalf of projects which will benefit people who are really in need of the assistance to be provided.

As I think the record indicates, a great deal of work and planning, both at the Federal and local levels, have gone into this proposal. There has been a very substantial pledge of local financial support to supplement the Federal assistance called for in the plan. In fact, the record shows that over the 7-year installation period of structural measures and land treatment measures, the non-Federal investment will exceed the Federal investment by some $400,000-approximately $1.6 million to $1.2 million. I point this out as an indication of the tremendous local interest in this project.

The local organizations participating in the project are the Iberia Parish Police Jury, the Iberia-Vermilion Soil and Water Conservation District, the St. Mary Soil and Water Conservation District, and the Grand Coteau Ridge Soil and Water Conservation District. All of these organizations should be very highly commended for the excellent work they have done in helping to bring this project to its present state of readiness for final congressional action.

The Iberia Parish Police Jury merits especial commendation for the fact that it has assumed most of the responsibility for providing local participation funds. Among its obligations are $401,700 for land, easements, and rights-of-way; a $102,190 contribution for building of the water control structures; $212,220 for the multipurpose mains and laterals system; $21,500 for administration of contracts and approximately $50,000 per year for operating costs of the project.

The lower Bayou Teche Watershed District under the plan now before you will cover approximately 200,000 acres of very fertile farming and pastureland in the parishes of Iberia, Vermilion, Lafayette, and St. Mary. The area to be benefited lies in the heart of Louisiana's French-speaking Cajun country where sugarcane and rice are the primary crops, but where truck farming and dairying are growing rapidly.

The water problem in the area to be affected is threefold. First, there is a water supply problem during some periods of the year stemming from the construction some 30 or 35 years ago of the levees which now contain the Atchafalaya River and the Atchafalaya spillway. The construction of these levees interrupted the natural flow of water in the area and cut off the principal source of supply of many of our streams. Through the years, public works projects of several kinds have allowed the Corps of Engineers to go a long way toward remedying the situation, but the job is not yet completed. This project will play its part in bringing about a total solution to the problem. The three structures to be built at the southern end of the project will enable the retention of enough water in the streams during the dry season to make up in great part for the sources of supply which were lost through construction of the Atchafalaya levees. The cost of these three structures is estimated to be about $275,000, over 40 percent of which will be provided by the local sponsoring organization, the Iberia Parish Police Jury.

The second major part of our problem also will be solved by these structures. In times of low water they will not only enable us to keep fresh water in our streams, but will prevent the intrusion of salt water from the Gulf of Mexico. As you might suspect, intrusion of salt water presents a very serious problem in the matter of rice irriga

tion. It is obvious that salt or brackish water simply cannot be pumped into rice crops, or into any other crop for that matter.

To date, most of the irrigation done in our area is in terms of rice. However, new approaches to farming and better and cheaper methods of irrigation are rapidly expanding this operation into other crops. This expanding role of irrigation makes salt water intrusion an even greater hindrance to optimum agricultural development in this area. in years to come.

Intrusion of salt water also creates a severe problem in thousands of acres of our marshland, which at first glance might seem useless, but which in may areas is extensively used as grazing land and is the home of an important part of Louisiana's vast wildlife resources. You will note from the comments in the work plan that when salt water comes in, it changes the pattern of vegetation and severely disrupts wildlife and fish in the area. One of Louisiana's pressing wildlife and fisheries problems is the prevention of this damaging salt water intrusion into the marshes which provide the winter feeding grounds for a large part of the duck and goose population of North America. This project will contribute to that effort.

Therefore, although the work plan states that there is no recreational aspect directly involved in this plan, the result of the watershed work will unquestionably be of value to sportsmen in Louisiana and elsewhere whose recreation depends on an adequate population of ducks and geese to be hunted.

The third major aspect of the program concerns the problem of drainage of the area in times of heavy rainfall. The land is very flat with poor natural drainage, due to a slope of less than 1 foot per mile, as pointed out in the work plan. South Louisiana's rainfall in the project area is nearly 60 inches per year, and inadequate drainage canals often result in flooding of crops causing disruption of harvesting operations and damage to farmhouses and rural roads. In the work plan the Department of Agriculture points out that 60 percent or more of existing ditches and streams in the project area are of insufficient capacity to handle rainfall runoff during the wetter months of the year. A major aspect of the project, therefore, involves the enlargement of approximately 100 miles of stream channels and the clearing and snagging of an additional 33 miles. This channel improvement will serve a great purpose both in flood prevention and in agriculture water management. Its total cost of $1,546,000 comprises well over half of the total investment

Still another important aspect of the overall program will be the land treatment procedures to be practiced on the 800-odd farms in the project area, most of the cost of which will be borne locally$847,563 locally and $104,905 in Federal funds. Reseeding of pastures, weed control, rotation grazing, land grading, land bedding, and improved conditions for irrigation will go a long way toward improving the agricultural situation in the area. These measures will also do much to preserve the investment of $1.3 million spent during the last decade in land treatment in the area. Without it, much of the foundation work which has been done over the past 10 years would slip away and its ultimate benefit would be lost.

Concerning land treatment, I am glad to point out that landowners themselves have agreed to install some 55 structures throughout the