| OCR Text |
Show addition to a strengthened fire-protection system, the timber stands need improvement, grazing hard- wood forests should be sharply curtailed, and dam- aging logging practices should be corrected. Some 300,000 acres now in cultivation or grass should be planted to forests and intelligently cared for. Re- forestation is also needed in many areas that have been cut over or for other reasons have an inade- quate timber stand. The basin deserves and can support something better than shriveled and scrubby timber stands. A variety of types of technical and financial aids are available to farmers to improve their cropping and grazing practices and to manage their farms so as to protect and enhance the productive capacity of the land. The Soil Conservation Service, through soil conservation districts, provides to farm- ers such technical aid as soil conservation surveys, the preparation of farm conservation plans based on the surveys and the farmer needs, and technical guidance in the application of needed measures. Incentive payments are also available through the Production and Marketing Administration to finance, partially, the costs of installing conserva- tion practices. Some credit is made available through tlie credit agencies of the Department of Agriculture; the Farmers Home Administration also provides technical services to its borrowers to help insure that the money loaned will be used to the best advantage. Through the Federal-State Agri- cultural Extension Program, various educational media are used to advise farmers on improved farm- ing methods. The above programs, along with research and other activities, have resulted in some progress in the adoption of conservation systems of farming, and have been instrumental in public recognition of the need to protect the land resources. The various programs need to be expanded, in- tensified, and pursued. Recreation Existing developments The paries and related recreational areas admin- istered by State agencies are of major significance to the Potomac Basin. One of the legal responsi- bilities of t Jie National Park Service is its coopera- tive working relationship with the States in assisting them to carry out an effective conservation and rec- reation program. All four of the States concerned 584 with the Potomac Basin now have agencies which are providing opportunities for nonurban recreation to residents and visitors alike. In Pennsylvania the Bureau of Parks in the De- partment of Forest and Waters operates the Cale- donia and the Cowans Gap State Parks in the Potomac Basin. The West Virginia State Conser- vation Commission operates the Cacapon and Lost River State Parks, the Virginia Conservation Com- mission manages the Westmoreland State Park, and the Maryland Department of State Forests and Parks operates three parks in the basin, Fort Fred- erick State Park, Gambrill State Park, and Wash- ington Monument State Park. Of the Federal areas within the basin, 530,000 acres are in national forests, in which the Govern- ment has an investment of 5.7 million dollars. In 1949 these national forest areas within the basin accommodated 155,000 visitors. There are seven smaller areas which lie wholly or partly within the basin which are administered as parts of the national park system. These are (1) the Shenandoah National Park, which in 1949 recorded 1,102,797 visitors, (2) Antietam National Battlefield site, (3) George Washington Birthplace National Monument, (4) Gettysburg National Mil- itary Park, (5) Manassas National Battlefield Park, (6) a portion of the Blue Ridge Parkway which, when completed, will connect Shenandoah Na- tional Park with Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and (7) the National Capital Parks, includ- ing the George Washington Memorial Parkway and the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal with its 100 miles of Potomac River frontage. The Catoctin Recreational Demonstration Area near Thurmont, Md., is also administered by the National Park Service, although not as a part of the national park system. It is an area of 15,000 acres developed mainly for camping and day-use activities. In addition to administering and maintaining these areas, the planning and development of the National Capital Parks area in the lower Potomac is an important part of the current park and recre- ation program. The major aspects of these devel- opment plans are the following: (a) The George Washington Memorial Park- way, now being constructed, will extend along the Potomac River from Mount Vernon to Great Falls on the Virginia side and from Great Falls to Fort Washington on the Maryland side-a distance of 47 miles. |
