SNOW SURVEY AND WATER SUPPLY FORECASTING Current Activities. Snow-fed streams in the West provide 70 percent of the water supply used for agriculture, industry, municipal uses, recreation, fish and wildlife and other purposes. SCS operates a network of snow courses and related data collection sites in the Western States and Alaska in order to predict anticipated stream flow and water supply. These measurements are conducted in cooperation with Federal, State and local agencies, irrigation and power companies, and the Province of British Columbia. Water Supply forecasts and technical assistance help irrigation water users make the most effective use of available water supplies for agricultural production needs. More than 10 million acres of irrigated land in the western States benefit from water supply forecasts. In addition, a wide variety of water-using interests involved in water management decisions in the West are served. Federal agencies and organizations also use water supply data to help carry out their missions and the program aids the Federal Government in international water treaties. State governments use the information as a basis for allocation and use of available water resources as well as for administration of interstate water compacts. Local governments and industry use data generated by snow surveys to manage water supplies for most effective use. Depth and water content of snow are collected from 1600 snow courses, and precipitation data from 550 locations. Currently, most data are gathered by SCS and cooperating agency personnel who travel to remote areas by snowshoes, skis, over-snow machines and aircraft. Automation is now completed on 475 sites. The data are collected by remote sensing devices and transmitted via a westwide radio telemetry and data management system called SNOTEL. The following table summarizes snow survey and water supply forecasting progress items for fiscal years 1980-1982: Current Activities: Plant Materials Centers are operated by the Soil Conservation Service for testing, selecting, releasing, and providing for the commercial production of plants and the development of techniques for their effective use for reducing erosion and sedimentation where existing plants and methods are not suitable or available. Special emphasis is placed, on selecting plants and techniques for use on critical areas. The work at the 22 centers includes cooperation with other Federal agencies, State experiment stations, State departments of natural resources, conservation, and wildlife, commercial businesses, and seed and nursery associations to encourage production of improved plants and the promotion of the use of new or uncommon plant materials needed in soil and water conservation programs. Eighteen Plant Material Centers are operated by the Soil Conservation Service and four by cooperating agencies or by others. They are: Operated by SCS: Tucson, Arizona Manhattan, Kansas Quicksand, Kentucky Beltsville, Maryland Operated by cooperating agencies: Other: East Lansing, Michigan Cape May Courthouse, New Jersey Los Lunas, New Mexico (New Mexico State University) Bismarck, North Dakota (North Dakota Association of SCD's) In addition to the 20 centers listed above, the State of Alaska operates a Plant Materials Center (PMC) at Palmer; and the White River and Douglas Creek Soil Conservation Districts have established an Environmental Plant Center at Meeker, Colorado. The Soil Conservation Service provides technical assistance to these Centers through cooperative agreements. Comparative Plant Testing: Over 20,000 domestic and foreign plant collections are being comparatively evaluated at any one time at Plant Materials Centers. They are evaluated for a number of conservation needs with emphasis on finding plants and techniques for their effective use in stabilizing such critical areas as sand dunes, streambanks, and shorelines, road cuts and fills, utility corridors and surface mined lands. Plants are also evaluated and improved varieties released for the protection and improvement of pasture and rangeland and wildlife food and cover. The final evaluation of new plants and cultural methods is made on farms and ranches in conservation districts and on the properties of other cooperating agencies under actual use conditions. Plant Releases for Commercial Production: The Soil Conservation Service, over the years, has released over 200 different varieties of conservation plants to commercial producers. Some varieties have been replaced with superior plants. Currently, over 150 improved varieties are in commercial production and use in conservation programs. Commercial production of SCS released conservation plants in 1981 is projected at 13 million pounds of seed. 10 million woody plant seedlings, and 40 million plants, clones, or sprigs. This commercial production will have a retail value of approximately $27 million to commercial seed growers and nurserymen. More significantly, this commercial production of seed and plants is equivalent to the amount of plant materials required to treat over 1.8 million acres of land. Plants for Solving Conservation Problems: Some of the major soil conservation problems for which plants are currently being evaluated and for which previously released plants are being used where adapted include: 1. Plants for reducing nonpoint source pollution. Plants for reducing erosion and sediment, and improving forage quality and quantity of grazing land with special emphasis on problem areas including low fertility, shallow, saline, or alkaline soils, and for use in arid and semiarid areas. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Conservation plants that reduce erosion and sediment from crop Plants for improved cover and protection of streambanks, channels, and shorelines in sounds and tidal areas. Plants for stabilizing critical, high-yielding sediment sources Plants, particularly native grasses, legumes, forbs, shrubs, and trees, for reclaiming areas disturbed by surface mining with special emphasis in the Southern Appalachian and the arid and semiarid Western regions. Improved woody plants for use in windbreaks and shelterbelts and herbaceous plants for use in barriers for reducing wind erosion and Accelerated collections of native plant materials needed to Plants for improving the quality and diversity of wildlife habitats. Selected Examples of Recent Progress: An average of 15 new conservation plants have been cooperatively released to commercial seed growers and nurserymen during each of the last 3 years. These releases include: 1. 2. 3. 4. Eleven native grasses including "Nezpar" Indian ricegrass, "Magnar" basin wildrye, "Hachita" blue grama, and "Shoshone" beardless wildrye for range improvement and the reclamation of surface mined lands in the arid and semiarid regions of the West. Eight improved shrubs or trees including "Cardan" green ash for use in "Appalow" sericea lespedeza for stabilizing and controlling sedimentation "Canbar" bluegrass and "Secar" bluebunch wheatgrass for range 5. "Shoreline" common reed for use in Texas for stabilizing and protecting shorelines or reservoirs from wave-action erosion. 6. Five native forbs including "Aztec" and "Prairie gold" Maximilian 7. 8. Three native shrubs, including "Casa" quailbush, for erosion control and for improving wildlife habitat and diversity. "Cimarron" little bluestem and "Almo" switchgrass for controlling erosion and sediment through reseeding poor condition rangeland in the central and Southern Great Plains. RESOURCE APPRAISAL AND PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT The Soil Conservation Service has leadership for the development and preparation of the Appraisal, Program, and Statement of Policy required by the Soil and Water Resources Conservation Act of 1977 (PL 95-192). Activities carried out under this Act will help USDA; soil and water conservation districts; and other Federal, State, and local agencies make the necessary shift towards the highest priority conservation tasks, resolve many natural resource policy issues, and identify the present and likely future demands on the soil, water, and related resources of the Nation. With data obtained from the continuing appraisal of the Nation's soil, water, and related resources, a national soil and water conservation program is being developed in cooperation with and with participation by the public through conservation districts, State, and national organizations and agencies for submission to Congress in 1980. This program is to be used as a guide in carrying out the activities of the Soil Conservation Service to assist landowners and land users, at their request, in furthering soil and water conservation on the private and non-Federal lands of the Nation. The program shall set forth the direction for future soil and water conservation efforts of the Department of Agriculture based on the current soil, water, and related resource appraisal. The program will take into consideration both the long-and short-term needs of the Nation, the landowners, and the land users, and recognize the role and responsibilities of Federal, State, and local governments in such conservation efforts. Current Activities: In FY 1980, a second period of public review and comment was carried out. Eighteen regional meetings were held to receive public comments about the draft Appraisal Parts I and II and the draft Program Report and Environmental Impact Statement. More than 64,000 written responses were received between January and March, 1980. These responses conveyed the views of members of the agricultural community, representatives of governmental entities, and members of environmental or other interest groups from every State in the Nation and the Caribbean area. Responses were analyzed and summarized in a detailed report used by the RCA Coordinating Committee in developing national conservation programs. |