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Show in many areas so far have prevented the actual application of the needed reforms to the land. Soil conservation.- The Soil Conservation Service, of the U. S. Department of Agriculture, has been engaged since 1933 in large- scale demonstrations of how to prevent man- caused erosion and restore the soil to its original productivity. These demonstrations are given at the request of soil conservation districts, which are voluntary local organizations of farmers and ranchers who wish to save their lands from further erosion by adopting agricultural practices that will restore and preserve the soil. As of October 1944, there were 1,169 such local soil conservation districts covering approximately 650 million acres in 45 States. The Soil Conservation Service has shown that of its 59 time- tested soil- conservation practices, all assist indirectly in bringing back wildlife, while several methods, where applicable, bring a direct increase almost at once, often with cash benefits in the form of fur or food fish. These methods include marsh development and management, beaver management, stock pond development, stream bank protection, and range reseeding. " Even in the Southwest, farm ponds of Arizona and New Mexico show promise of becoming highly productive," 61 thus affording both food and recreation. Development and protection of vegetation on odd corners, or on wastelands and gullies that can no longer be used for any regular agricultural purpose, has not only prevented further loss of soil, but has produced large quantities of wildlife, particularly game birds, having a high recreational value. Often this wildlife could not otherwise have found any suitable habitat in the region. The Service has stated that in the United States as a whole, 5,641,300 acres of otherwise unusable land can be reclaimed for this purpose. Range management.- Soil erosion and range surveys have been carried on by the Soil Conservation Service throughout the country, but actual restoration projects so far have been concentrated to a considerable extent upon farm lands, particularly in eastern States. In western regions, including the Colorado River Basin, vast grazing areas lie in the public domain. This range land is administered by Federal agencies, and is not adapted to voluntary organization by small agriculturists into 61 Graham, 1945, p. 219. soil conservation districts. In 1938, an interdepartmental board was created to facilitate cooperation in soil conservation between the Soil Conservation Service and other Federal agencies, including the Forest Service, National Park Service, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs. One of the most important projects of the Soil Conservation Service in the Colorado River Basin has been its joint demonstration with the Bureau of Indian Affairs of range management on the severely overgrazed Navajo Indian Reservation. Much of the land in the Colorado River Basin is administered by the Bureau of Land Management of the Department of the Interior. The Taylor Grazing Act, establishing the Grazing Service, now incorporated in the Bureau of Land Management, was passed by Congress in 1934 to protect the public domain from the unregulated and destructive grazing that had existed since the first days of settlement, and to provide for the orderly development and restoration of the range. Considering the enormous loss of forage and top- soil that had taken place before the creation of the Grazing Service by this act, subsequent progress in restoration of the land, though slow, gives room for hope. Livestock has been better distributed by the extensive development of springs and stock reservoirs. Wildlife has benefited not only from the water development but from the more equalized distribution of the livestock, with its attendant lessening of overgrazing. Grazing regulations provide that " a sufficient grazing capacity of Federal range will be reserved for the maintenance of a reasonable number of wild game animals to use the range in common with domestic livestock." Although the feeling is by no means universal, many stockmen definitely favor game conservation, and are willing to support any measures for its restoration that do not seriously interfere with the numbers and welfare of their livestock. Although the Bureau of Land Management receives no funds for wildlife conservation, and any progress in that direction is voluntary or incidental, a noticeable increase in various game species appears to have resulted from such range improvements as have been accomplished to date. Many Bureau of Land Management field men serve as volunteer deputy game wardens, and there is con- 69 |