OCR Text |
Show activities provide improved methods for treatment and management of all water and related land resources, uses, and values. Privately Owned Lands The primary objective of management measures on privately owned lands (36 percent of the Region) is to improve income and to protect and/or restore the land and water resources of the immediate area. Soil conservation districts, organized under state law, utilize tech- nical and financial assistance from various public and quasi-public agencies and organizations. They work directly with individual owners and/or operators and cooperate with agencies administratively responsible for public lands within the district boundaries. Progress to 1965 There is no accurate method for determining what portion of the total area had received adequate land treatment and management by 1965. On an equivalent acre basis, using present standards, sufficient measures had been installed to adequately treat about 37 percent of the irrigated crop- land in the Region. While most public forest and rangelands utilized by domestic livestock are under some form of improved livestock management, only 15 percent of these lands benefit from completed management programs. Less than 10 percent of the commercial timberland in the Region has been developed and is being managed for the maximum production of timber products. An estimated 25 percent of the measures and treatment needed for the effici- ent development and management of urban and other lands have been provided for based upon the 1965 needs of the people. In nearly all cases, the measures and practices meeting the standards in 1965 are expected to be inadequate in the near future because of improved technology and a limited useful life. Management programs, developments, and practices that have been installed on public and private lands as of 1965 include measures for reduc- ing erosion and sedimentation, and controlling runoff. Also installed are measures for improved livestock forage and timber production. In 1965:? most land received some degree of wildfire protection. Vegetative and resource management have been provided on over 2,500 square miles of forest land, for increased water yield and livestock forage. Watershed Management Problems More intensive use of the land resources has created a multitude of watershed management problems including: increased soil erosion, accel- erated sediment production, reduced productivity, increased flood damage, and degraded water quality. There is a need to treat high yielding motintain watershed lands to increase and regulate water yield in order to help rfulfill 31 |