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Show Under a project authorization the Department of Agriculture is carrying out a program of runoff and waterflow retardation and soil erosion preven- tion on the watershed of the Little Sioux River, a tributary of the Missouri. The Interior Department also carries on a num- ber of major functions in the basin. They include: Administration and protection of 282 million acres of public land. Land classification studies, solid fuels investi- gations, excavations of historical and arche- ological sites in collaboration with the Smithsonian Institution, fish and wildlife surveys, investigations of ground and surface water, water quality sampling, and sedimen- tation studies. Operating programs of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Bureau of Mines, Bureau of Rec- lamation, National Park Service, Fish and Wildlife Service, and the U. S. Geological Survey. Additional and Continued Programs Required To Meet Current Needs There has been a gradual but growing recogni- tion of the necessity for integrating water, land, and mineral resources development. Multiple-pur- pose water projects, utilizing both surface and ground water supplies, are designed to provide water needed for municipal, domestic, stock water, and industrial purposes, irrigation, navigation, pol- lution abatement, recreation, and fish and wildlife, and to provide for flood control and hydroelectric power generation. Such projects must provide the proper balance among these multiple functions if all the needs are to be met, and they must be oper- ated in step with a comprehensive watershed man- agement program. In the original authorization for the Missouri Basin, however, only irrigation, municipal water supply, navigation, flood control, and power generation were recognized objectives. There is need now for recognition of watershed management, recreation, fish and wildlife conserva- tion, and pollution abatement as essential parts of a water resources development program. Basin plans should promote efficient irrigation practices; sound forest, range, and watershed man- agement; maintenance of soil fertility; erosion con- trol; and other aspects of proper land use. These activities cannot be conducted as periodic or irregu- lar efforts. They are of a long-range and con- tinuing nature, and have important effects upon water resources development. Because water flows into the streams as runoff from the land, programs of soil conservation and land management will directly affect the rate and volume of runoff, sedi- ment loads, the supply of fish and wildlife, and opportunities for recreation. The extraction, processing, and use of minerals in the basin are closely allied with land and water development. Sub-bituminous coal and lignite can be used to produce steam power equal to any fore- seeable demand. This is an important factor in the light of power deficiencies. Industry outside the basin may also depend on these fuel supplies. A phosphate fertilizer industry, liquefaction of coal and lignite, and exploitation of other mineral re- sources may require large quantities of water and power. The water resources program requires greater research into the economics of different methods of extracting and processing phosphate, lignite, sub- bituminous coal and other valuable minerals. Re- search into the use of lignite and sub-bituminous coal for production of liquid fuel and its by-products should receive greater emphasis and support. Pilot-plant operation should be expanded as a part of the program of mineral research. The background of needs in the basin cannot be overlooked in resources development. There should be a continuing inventory and appraisal of needs and resources. Plans should be adapted to these basic elements. The plans should be reviewed frequently to insure that the emerging needs of the basin are adequately met. One important phase of the program is far be- hind, because construction of water projects has moved ahead of watershed management programs. Retardation of this function limits the effectiveness of the development program as a whole. After the devastating floods in the Missouri Val- ley in the spring of 1947, a demand arose for speed- ing the construction of reservoirs for flood control and other purposes. This resulted in authorization of about 10 reservoirs, before adequate investiga- tions covering all aspects, including the economic, could be made. No similar recent emergency stimulus affected the watershed management plans. The additional projects and programs required to meet current needs include, first of all, expanded re- search and collection of basic data; a sound land use program, including proper watershed management; continued channel improvement and levee develop- ment along the lower Missouri River; provision of 279 |
