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Show cover, use forage crops on a sustained or improved yield basis, and reduce erosion mechanically where natural cover is inadequate. Sound management requires adjustment of stock numbers to the carry- ing capacity of the range, and the reseeding of depleted areas. Livestock watering facilities must be properly distributed. Insects and rodents must be controlled. Fires must be prevented. Contour furrowing or pitting of range lands is often desirable to control erosion, conserve moisture, and establish satisfactory cover. Water spreading and flood irrigation play an important role in increasing and stabilizing the supply of pasture or hay, thus con- tributing to the economic stability of ranching and relieving pressure on other grazing lands. A more intensified program of protection, de- velopment, and management of the forest resources should be undertaken. An enlarged fire fighting system for public and private forest lands is neces- sary. This calls for additional equipment, con- struction of airfields, crew barracks, roads, trails, and other improvements. Forest insect and dis- ease control programs should be expanded. Cut- over and denuded forest lands should be replanted. Timber stand improvement practices are needed on all forest lands. Proper regulation of forest grazing is called for, along with more adequate stock handling and watering facilities. Along with these land management measures, stabilizing measures for small water courses to retard flood flows and reduce sedimentation are also needed in many parts of the basin. This pro- gram contemplates the construction of gully con- trol structures, floodways, bank protection works, and small retarding basins. Such measures will increase the usefulness of the water resources of the basin, and minimize damage from excess runoff. Flood Control Recurring floods cause extensive damages throughout the basin. In addition to improved watershed management, the basin program must therefore provide regulatory storage on the main stem and on tributaries, supplemented by levees and other local works in critical flood damage areas. This program benefits residents of the Mississippi as well as the Missouri Basin. Zoning regulations should be used to minimize flood damages where they are the most beneficial control. The elements of a program include an extensive system of levees and appurtenant drainage works along the river from Sioux City to the mouth. This will provide 274 an adequate floodway for uncontrolled inflows be- low the reservoirs, and minimize flood damage to agricultural lands in the lower valley. Provision should be made to prevent encroachments upon the floodways. Control of stream bank erosion in critical locations is an element. Irrigation All irrigation potentialities should be developed, to the extent that they are feasible and consistent with other water uses. Surface and ground water supplies should be fully integrated. It may be possible to irrigate as much as 5 million acres of new lands and to provide supplemental water to perhaps a million acres now irrigated but having a deficient supply. Total irrigated acreage will be small compared to the total farm land in the basin. Sound practices and good land management will provide a stable irrigation agriculture. Irrigation will complement the livestock industry by providing forage and feed crops. It can result in greater farm income, and by promoting food processing and other local in- dustries will improve employment opportunities and living standards. Hydroelectric Power Ample supplies of power at reasonable rates can contribute to economic stability. They can pro- mote efficiency of agricultural operations and indus- trial expansion, particularly in the smaller, widely distributed types of industries. Hydroelectric power plants, most of which Avill be parts of mul- tiple-purpose projects, can supply a large amount of the expected demands in the upper basin and the plains States, and can contribute to future power supply in downstream areas. Because of the stream flow variations, and the dis- tance of many power sites from the areas of greatest anticipated power demands, much additional steam capacity will also be required. The basin has large fuel resources, ranging from petroleum and natural gas in Kansas, Wyoming, and Montana, to the coal deposits in Missouri, Iowa, Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana, and the vast lignite deposits in Wyo- ming, Montana, and the Dakotas. The use of hydroelectric power in combination with steam power will effectively serve future regional loads, and will make possible utilization of low-grade fuels for power production and other purposes. An element in the program is development of the |
