district cooperator discusses range conditions on her property in Montana's Crow Indian Reservation with the SCS District Conservationist. With SCS technical help, she has rebuilt the stockwatering pond shown in the background.

Livestock wastes are the number one problem related to pollution by organics from agriculture. Livestock waste disposal systems are being constructed (with SCS technical assistance) at a rate of over 5,000 systems annually. This concrete manure holding area on a Carroll County, Maryland farm has a picket fence type door which strains out the solids for later disposal and allows liquids to run on through into a holding pond.

Workers harvest catfish from farm pond in Tunica County, Mississippi. Such enterprises are proving profitable to many farmers throughout the south. The Soil Conservation Service is accelerating its technical assistance in the field of aquaculture.

An SCS District Conservationist examines one of rour mine openings which will be sealed to prevent access to the mine interior, thereby eliminating a safety hazard to children playing in the area.

Below, a section of the abandoned mine site in Junior, W. Va., will be graded, covered with soil, seeded to grass, and used for community recreation.

Retention of Prime Farmlands: Nearly 1 million acres of our Nation's farmlands are being converted to other uses each year in the face of a 50-year projection of increasing demands for production of food and fiber for foreign trade; for domestic production of strategic and essential industrial materials that are now imported; and to supply renewable sources of energy. An estimated 2 million acres of adjacent lands are being lost to agriculture as a result of these conversions. In addition to the loss of agricultural production capacity, these conversions are ...sapping the vitality of large and small cities... and wasting energy at every turn," according to the July 1980 House Report on Compact Cities (Subcommittee on the City of the Committee on Banking, Finance, and Urban Affairs). The Soil Conservation Service is committed to reducing the loss of important farmlands and limiting developmental sprawl around the Nation's cities through a strong voluntary program of technical assistance in policy formulation and land use planning with landholders and agencies of government at all levels.

Water Quality: Water quality as a benefit of conservation planning and application is emphasized in all programs. Technical assistance for water quality has been targeted in over 100 special project areas including 13 experimental Rural Clean Water, 7 model implementation, special ACP water quality, and small farmer assistance project areas. Soil Conservation Service specialists have been detailed to 10 Environmental Protection Agency regional offices and headquarters to assist in plannning and implementing water quality management plans. Targeted Geographical Areas: Beginning in 1981 a program of accelerated technical assistance will be initiated in targeted geographical areas with severe erosion, water conservation, and water quality problems. In FY 1982 a total of $6.7 million of technical assistance funds will be designated for this purpose. The targeted geographical areas will include the Palouse area of Washington, Oregon, and Idaho; the Corn Belt area of Missouri and Iowa; the Southern Piedmont areas of Alabama and Georgia; West Tennessee; and the irrigated areas of the Western States.

Selected Examples of Recent Progress: Technical services were provided to individual landusers conservation planning or application during fiscal year 1980. They received services essential to making land use or treatment decisions or applying conservation measures. Conservation practices were applied by individuals or groups during the year as a result of technical assistance provided.