OCR Text |
Show petus to conservation of natural resources as fun- damental to the economy and the very life of the Nation. Emphasis was given to conservation of our water, forests, farms, fish, fuel, and mineral supplies. And they interpreted conservation in the broadest possible sense to include the best utili- zation of the country's eternally replenishing water resources through comprehensive programs of multiple-purpose undertakings for navigation, power, and other beneficial uses. The impetus of their zeal has impressed itself upon the minds, thinking, and teaching of con- servationists in the nearly half a century that has passed since their ringing crusades first awakened the country to the need. Articles and editorials, speeches and resolutions by clubs and chambers of commerce, and teachings in our schools have stressed the general theme of conservation. Indi- viduals have preached against destruction of our forests, erosion of our soils, damage by floods. But the accomplishments have been small in comparison with the need, partly because of un- deremphasis on the multiple-purpose utilization phases of the conservation program. Enthusiasm for improved land practices in the headwater areas has tended to divorce itself from emphasis on the importance of hydraulic structures on the main stream and its tributaries, and vice versa. The task of conservation education today is to bring the two phases together so that teaching will lead to understanding of the importance of comprehensive treatment of river basins in their entirety to provide a secure basis for our expand- ing civilization. The Substance of Conservation Education All too frequently the conservationist has been so enthused in his zeal to prevent floods, to save every drop of water, to prevent all soil erosion, to eliminate droughts and dust bowls, that he has failed to recognize that in nature runoff, floods, soil erosion, droughts, and dust storms are much older than white men's cutting of the forest, breaking the soil, and tilling the land. We can reasonably expect all of these conditions to con- tinue to exist. True, man has been responsible for loss of forest, shrub, and grass protective cover to our soils; and soil erosion, stream pollution, and floods have been accelerated. Man can do much to lessen the rate of deterioration of these natural resources of water and soil, but he can- not completely eliminate the effect of these nat- ural forces that have affected our topography through geologic time-the processes of runoff and erosion which are still continuing over moun- tain slopes, canyons, river valleys, broad plains, swamps, deltas, and beaches. Science and engineering, however, are carry- ing on continuing observations and studies, de- veloping ideas and executing methods and works to minimize the ill effects of man's occupancy of the land, to restore conditions of soil protec- tion more nearly to that which nature provided and, in conjunction therewith, to store and utilize for the support of our civilization waters which would otherwise flow as destructive floods. In the headwater areas such methods have included forest fire protection and suppression, selective logging, reforestation to provide for sus- tained yield, protection of pasture lands by con- trolled grazing and introduction of better pasture grasses, restoration of some previously tilled land to grass land, terracing, and small dams at loca- tions where erosion has started gullies. All of these we refer to as improved land management practices. In the farm areas, too, methods have been designed to make certain that topsoil is not lost at rates greater than nature's forces of soil build- ing aided by improved farm practice can re- store. Crop rotation, fertilization protection, contour plowing, terracing, and, in some cases, restoration to forest or pasture land are involved in conserving the Nation's soils for the produc- tion of food and fiber. Our streams and rivers collect the runoff from the mountains, uplands, and valleys. Much of the rainfall has been used to grow forests, pas- ture, crops, and is otherwise lost in evaporation and transpiration, but all that is not so lost flows over lands or through soils and aquifers to finally find its way to the sea in surface streams or under- ground. Due to natural conditions most rivers 270 |