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Show TABLE 8.-Degree of land deterioration [Million acres] Critical Serious Moderate Slight to none Total Private: Cultivated........ Grassland......... Woodland........ 31.7 19.2 .2 41.5 6.6 1.7 24.0 103.0 9.5 52.0 68.0 11.6 102.4 135.6 23.0 Total......... 51.1 49.8 136.5 23.6 261.0 Public: Federal.......... State and local. . 9.0 4.0 12.4 3.3 22.7 6.7 12.9 1.2 57.0 15.2 Total......... 13.0 15.7 29.4 14.1 72.2 Grand total........ Percentages......... 64.1 19 65.3 19 165.9 50 37.7 12 333.2 100 Source: Department of Agriculture. Years of misuse have brouglht some public grazing lands into worse condition. The erosion on about 20 percent of these lands is classed as critical, 25 percent as severe, and 53 percent as moderate to slightly deteriorating. In. the group classed as critical, which includes the geologically unstable Badlands, an estimated 20 to 25 percent are con- sidered as ruined, 35 percent: as submarginal, and 40 percent as marginal. The program expendi- ture for rehabilitating these la.nds in 1947 amounted to $0.0056 an acre. Of the total, about half the lands need some kind of a restorative treatment, and about 10 percent needs reseeding. Public land ownership in tlie basin, both Federal and State, is large. The size of the area and the location of the lands with reference to the popula- tion and downstream public works make these public lands of great import and value in all basin plans. Because of this, the management of these public lands should be of the best. Then, too, these public lands should be managed in the primary in- terest of the downstream wa,ter users. The areas of Federal- and State-owned lands in different parts of the basin are given in table 9. TABLE 9.-Federal and State-owned lands, by areas [Thousand acres] Source: Department of Agriculture. 208 rp. r v. Upper Western Eastern Lower m , Type of ownership watershed Plains Plains basin Total Federal: Bureau of Land Management............... 9,877 7,161 61 1 17,100 Forest Service............................ 12,439 4,204 1 145 16,789 Soil Conservation Service............................... 4,582 58 14 4,654 National defense.......................... 96 1,081 133 112 1,422 Parks and wildlife......................... 1,626 786 202 37 2,651 Indian lands.............................. 2,013 10,478 1,662 104 14,257 Other................................... 18 170 25 4 217 Total Federal........................... 26,069 28,462 2,142 417 57,090 State: Forest.................................... 112 99 ........................ 211 Parks.................................... 2 6 8 2 18 Credit agencies....................................... 14 19 ............ 33 School lands.............................. 3,078 9,246 2,652 17 14,993 Total State............................. 3,192 9,365 2,679 19 15,255 Total Federal and State.................. 29,261 37,827 4,821 436 72,345 |
