| OCR Text |
Show of North River, a tributary of the south fork of the Shenandoah, and the other on the watershed of an upper tributary of the south branch of the Potomac. An estimated 20 inches of rain fell during a 24-hour period. The floods from this local storm caused the loss of 11 lives and over 9 million dollars damage to property. (See chapter 2.) Much of the damage resulted from great landslides which in some cases could have been prevented had the area been cov- ered with deep-rooted trees instead of shallow- rooted scrub oak. Stabilization works in the small tributaries also might have helped reduce the dam- ages. Present programs for land treatment.-An intensive program of land treatment is being planned on the Monocacy watershed because of the damaging silt resulting from erosion. The In- terstate Commission on the Potomac River Basin has been active in sponsoring this work and several local, State, and Federal agencies will participate. The Department of Agriculture Report* recom- mended a program of water-flow retardation and soil-erosion prevention for the North Branch of the Potomac River watershed, the watershed above Hancock, Md., and the Shenandoah River water- shed above Front Royal, Va. Some works of im- provement were authorized by the Flood Control Act of 1944 2 and a limited amount of work has been in progress since 1948 in the upper Potomac Basin. Measures employed include protection of woodlands from fire and grazing, planting of woody vegetation on steep and badly eroded slopes, im- provement of logging practices, revegetation of bare areas in pasture lands, protection of eroding stream banks, and construction of contour furrows on pas- ture land. Work plans for 26 subwatersheds have been prepared. These cover 2,750 farms and total 859,000 acres. Six subwatershed plans are being applied. A review of the recommended program also has been authorized recently by Congress. Other watershed management activities in the Potomac River Basin are undertaken as a part of the Nation-wide programs of the Department of Agriculture, in cooperation with the respective States and other local units. Under these pro- grams technical assistance is being given the 20 soil conservation districts lying wholly or partially within and covering practically the entire basin. Conservation plans have been prepared for 9,600 farms containing 1.6 million acres. Treatment has been applied to 808,000 acres, or about one-fifth of the crop and pasture land. In addition, approxi- mately 2 million dollars annually is made available to farmers in the basin for carrying out conserva- tion measures. Limited amounts of credit are made available for tenant purchase of farms, and for mak- ing the improvements necessary for conservation farming. An educational program is carried on through the 41 agricultural extension agents in the 26 counties of the basin. The national forests are managed, insofar as funds permit, in accordance with sound forest man- agement principles. Improvement funds are lim- ited to maintenance only and do not permit the con- struction of needed access roads, recreation facili- ties, provision of adequate wildlife habitat, and other improvements. Protection funds are reason- ably adequate for fire suppression. Federal participation in fire prevention on non- Federal forest lands is handled in cooperation with the States under the provisions of the Clarke- McNary Act.3 Progress has been made, but the program is still inadequate. A limited amount of technical assistance in farm forest improvement has been made available to the States under the Co- operative Farm Forestry Act.4 There are now nine farm forestry projects within the basin. Other possibilities for improvement.-Some farm drainage work is under way. However, it is small compared to the estimated 7 percent of present cropland and 6 percent of pastures in the basin in need of improved drainage for more effective land use. Although the total rainfall is adequate for crop production, short periods of drought occur which reduce crop yields. Hence, there is a growing in- terest in irrigation. A few farmers have installed small irrigation facilities, either by pump, or utiliz- ing farm-pond storage. A number of orchards also have been equipped with irrigation systems. These improved pastures are gaining interest among farmers. By liming, proper fertilization, and using good legume-grass pasture mixtures, excellent pastures can be developed on most farms in the basin. These improved pastures not only afford good protection against erosion and increase the water infiltration capacity of the soil, but also in- crease dollar income. 1 H. Doc. No. 269, 78th Cong., 1st sess. 2 Act of December 22, 1944, § 13, 58 Stat. 887, 905. 3 Act of June 7, 1924, 43 Stat. 653, 16 U. S. G. 564. See also Supp. III. 4 Act of May 18, 1937, 50 Stat. 188, 16 U. S. G. 568b. 593 |
