Erosion rates of 80 tons per acre each year are experienced on soils subject to wind erosion in Pueblo County, Colorado when rangeland is converted to cropland as shown in this photo. This is typical in the "plowout" areas of Colorado and adjoining States.

Proper range management includes the proper seeding mixtures. Proper management is resulting in an excellent stand on this Millard County, Utah rangeland which is part of a special ACP project.

SCS shares its conservation knowledge with other countries by providing technical assistance and training to international agriculturalists in soil and water conservation practices. Here is a view of Peruvian farmers building bench terraces to hold water and soil in place. SCS conservationist provides the assistance for Peruvian farmers to understand and build these measures to increase food production and prolong the use of their poor soil resources.

Planning and Application Assistance: Conservation planning and application assistance is provided to land users who have a need for improved land use and resource management systems. Assistance is provided by trained resource conservation and management specialists. These specialists inventory and interpret information about site-specific soil, plant, water, and other physical conditions to determine feasible alternative land uses and conservation treatment systems. This information is used in assisting land users to make decisions on the appropriate land uses, and conservation practices or systems that will protect the resource base. Land users also receive technical assistance as needed, to apply conservation treatment including, design, layout, and on-site installation technical services to assure the quality of the applied treatment. These services require professional skills from a variety of specialized resource management disciplines whose assistance reflects an interdisciplinary approach under a wide range of ownership and use conditions. Some of the benefits of planning and application assistance accruing to both rural and urban residents are reduced erosion and sedimentation, cleaner water, reduction of health hazards, improved fish and wildlife habitat, flood prevention, and the continued production of food and fiber at reasonable cost.

Some specific problems to which planning and application efforts are being directed include:

Critical Erosion on Agricultural Lands: Slightly more than 18 percent or 241 million acres of the Nation's agricultural lands are subject to excessive erosion by wind and/or water. Almost 59 percent of the excessive erosion occurs on cropland and the cropland produces 78 percent of the total annual soil loss from all agricultural lands. Reducing excessive erosion on cropland and other agricultural lands is one of the major thrusts of the conservation efforts carried out by SCS in FY 1983.

Water Conservation: Nationwide, irrigation accounts for approximately 80 percent of the total water consumed. Intensive use and competition for water is especially acute in those States where agriculture is almost totally dependent on irrigation water. One key to insuring adequate water for all future uses is to conserve existing ground water supplies. Another element in the total water conservation effort is improving the efficiency of irrigation water use and reducing salinity levels. Improvement in irrigation efficiencies may also result in considerable savings of energy.

Retention of Farmlands: Nearly 1 million acres of our Nation's farmlands are being converted to other uses each year in spite of increasing demands for food and fiber production for foreign trade and to meet future needs for strategic and essential industrial materials that are agriculturally produced. An estimated 2 million acres of adjacent lands are being lost to agriculture as a result of these conversions. SCS is committed to reducing the loss of important farmlands through a voluntary program of technical assistance in land use planning and policy formulation with units of government at all levels.

Water Quality: In 1977, 68 percent of the drainage basins in the Nation reported pollution caused by agricultural activities. Major sources of agricultural related pollutants include pesticides, animal wastes, salinity, dissolved solids, and sediment. SCS currently emphasizes water quality improvement in all its activities.

Selected Examples of Progress: Conservation planning and application services were provided to 972,466 17 decisionmakers during FY 1983. These services and applied practices resulted in the following conservation accomplishments:

1/ Decisionmakers receiving technical services is the number of individuals, groups, and units of government assisted with the authority to make land use and treatment decisions on lands under their management control. 2/ Acres treated to conservation standards is land adequately protected to maintain productive capacity and certain soil loss or other resource deterioration within acceptable limits. All needed conservation practices and management systems have been applied on these lands.

Targeted Conservation Technical Assistance: SCS continues to emphasize the national significance of critical cropland erosion and water use problems by targeting a portion of the conservation technical assistance (CTA) funds to specific geographic areas. In FY 1983, $12.5 million or 5 percent of the CTA funds were used to continue the acceleration of technical assistance levels in the 492 targeted counties in 31 States. For FY 1984, SCS proposes to expand the number of designated areas and increase targeted funding levels by $14.3 million ($26.8 million cumulative). This level of targeting would utilize 10 percent of the total funds available. Approximately 83 percent of the targeted funds are used for cropland erosion control, and 17 percent for water conservation efforts. The following table summarizes targeted areas funding for FY 1981, 1982, 1983, and planned for FY 1984. Targeted area maps show the location of targeted areas for cropland erosion control and for water conservation and salinity control.