OCR Text |
Show mediate purpose of that classification and also with stages of development. Data already avail- able in the form of topographic, geologic, soil, and vegetal cover maps, and from climatic, hydro- logic, and other records are interpreted and evaluated in terms of their application to the needs of a particular type of land use and treat- ment. Where these data do not exist, they must be supplied as a part of the survey. Such an analysis should integrate various items of basic data necessary for the land classifications required in planning, design, and operation of water resources programs. After a thorough study has been made of the information supplied by the pertinent items of basic data referred to above, a field survey is re- quired to integrate such data and to collect sup- plemental data necessary for the type of land classification desired. As part of the field survey, information must be obtained as to the use made of the land-whether cropland, grassland, or forest-and as to other factors such as effects of cropping and conservation measures on erosion, production of sediments, and type, density, and condition of vegetation. In initiating field surveys, it is important that requirements of the various programs be given consideration in developing specifications and map legends in order that the basic data obtained will prove adequate to as many agencies and pur- poses as practicable. The most widely used types of land classifica- tion are made for land use capability, irrigation, drainage, land clearing, and erosion control. Limited information is available on irrigability of land in the western part of the country, and generally the amount of basic data on the public lands of the United States is quite inadequate to the requirements of proper land management. Social and Economic Information To develop sound plans for comprehensive river basin programs, it is necessary to know what is being planned for. Those responsible for plan- ning must be able to answer such questions as the following: What are the needs of the people in the river basins or larger regions of which the river basin may be a part? What levels of popu- lation, employment, income, and production must the planning and programing be designed to serve? What problems need to be overcome to make these levels and associated activities pos- sible? What part may the multiple-purpose basin development be expected to play in further- ing valid regional objectives? Such questions as these are basic to the scale and content of the over-all plan and the separate projects and functions which are constituent ele- ments in such a plan. Underlying sound answers to these questions-involving analysis of the over- all economic base of the region and of its separate activities-are certain basic economic and social data. It is therefore of the greatest importance to river basin planning that existing deficiencies in such information be eliminated by including in the planning activities an adequate program of regional, social, and economic analysis. Basic economic data in river basin planning serve four major purposes. These purposes gov- ern the nature and detail of data required. 1. An over-all economic base study of the river basin area and the larger region of which the watershed may be a part. This study analyzes the over-all population and income potentialities of the river basin region in the light of the resources endowment and the economic and social trends. The end purpose of this study is to determine the future needs of the regional econ- omy so that river basin programs can be intelli- gently addressed to them, and also to set forth future economic goals to which all effort in the region can be addressed in a coordinated way. These goals are for the economy as a whole and for its separate activities-such as manufacturing, agriculture, forestry, fishing, and mining. These goals should be expressed in terms which will enable comparison between the potential contri- butions of the various activities and the over-all economy of the region, including income, em- ployment, and production. 2. Separate functional studies which not only contribute to the over-all economic base study, but which analyze present problems and the nature and outlines of a program for solving them. 105 |