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Show Training for Citizenship The informed citizen enters into decisions de- termining the development of regional resources in one or more of five ways. 1. As an individual landowner or tenant he decides how his cropland or grazing land or woodland is to be used so as to preserve the basic resource and still yield optimum returns. In this he works increasingly with other citizens through soil conservation districts, grazing districts, and forest cooperatives. 2. As a landowner or local taxpayer he decides when and to what extent municipal water sup- plies, municipal sewage treatment, irrigation and drainage districts, local flood control works, power marketing agencies, and recreational and wildlife facilities will be developed. This gen- erally requires his approval of new agencies and always adds to his tax obligations. 3. As a State voter and taxpayer and as a member of local and State civic organizations, he influences the State in the provisions which it makes for conservation of resources through pro- motional and regulatory action. He and his fel- low citizens have the final responsibility for allow- ing streams to remain putrid, for allowing careless builders to increase floods, for permitting their common ground water resources to be exhausted or polluted. Every State has the power to stop such abuses. Moreover, aroused public opinion may be as influential as a court order. 4. As a voter in State and Federal elections and as a member of local, State, and regional civic organizations, he influences the position which State and Federal representatives take in preparing river basin plans. His judgment as to the relative values in such issues as flood control versus reservoir inundation, or agricultural versus industrial and municipal water supply, or as to the effects of a multiple-purpose program on the general welfa.re may be determinative. His ap- praisal of a comprehensive basin program should be incisive. 5. As a Federal taxpayer and voter and a member of civic associations, he influences the decision by Congress as to what programs shall be undertaken, and when, and how much of the cost shall be charged to the Federal treasury. In- creasingly this decision requires a view of the future of a whole region rather than an assess- ment of how much a local group stands to gain from the proposed Federal expenditure. If these responsibilities are to be discharged wisely the citizen who has learned to think straight should have some understanding of the relationships between natural forces and between man and nature. He should have some ac- quaintance with effective ways of dealing with conservation problems. He should have the basic facts upon which to make decisions and he should have the conviction and courage to act upon his judgment once formed. All of the forces of education can contribute to this end. This is training for citizenship in its broadest sense. "Essentially, conservation is good citizen- ship applied to the use of national resources," the National Committee on Policies in Conservation Education has declared. Therefore: "Conser- vation education should be based on experiences that deal with local realities which the learner can easily understand, such as animals, forests, soils, and streams. These experiences should recognize the relationship of cause and effect and link individual behavior with social respon- sibility." Further to quote John W. Scott, chair- man of this committee of educators: Conservation education should be a part of our daily responsibility as citizens, and the spread of conservation information among citizens should be based primarily on personal contacts, so that such concepts become part of our daily life and culture. A great patriotic impulse is needed. The need is intensely practical. Why has inter- est in conservation developed so slowly in this coun- try? We should face the reasons squarely. We were young and spoiled. In our desire to create a new Nation and to free it from the restrictions of the Old World, we ignored many of the lessons that Europe and other of the older lands had learned. These elder lands had learned the hard way the necessity for a never-ending husbanding and maximum use of the soil, the water, and the wild- life of their native land, and that was one of the 268 |