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<br />Appendix I <br />The Federal Salinity Control Program <br /> <br />W <br />r.n <br />O"J <br />w <br /> <br />From its earliest days, according to program managers, BLM has recognized <br />the need for soil and water conservation on the lands it administers and <br />has actively worked to control erosion. As early as the 1960s, BLM had <br />increased its efforts to include water in its resource planning activities and <br />to improve water quality, In 1974, the year the Colorado River Saliniy <br />Control Act was enacted, BlM was already engaged in a special appraisal of <br />the salt contributed to the river from BLM-administered lands. After the <br />1984 amendments, which formally added BLM to the salinity control <br />program, BLM developed a comprehensive program for minimizing the salt <br />contributed to the river. That program was described in an Interior report <br />to the Congress in July 1987.8 <br /> <br />BLM field offices have the primary responsibility for developing and <br />implementing the resource management plans. Generally, each area <br />manager prepares a plan for the geographic area he or she manages. <br />However, district managers can initiate broader, overlapping plans when <br />significant issues or conflicts arise. In developing these plans, BLM invites <br />public review and participation. Thus, BLM receives from the public, as well <br />as from federal, state, and local agencies, information on controlling <br />salinity. <br /> <br />By the end of September 1994, BLM had spent about $7 million on the <br />control of salinity-both through multipurpose resource management <br />activities and specific salinity control projects. In fiscal year 1994, BLM <br />spent about $800,000 on salinity control; the projected expenditure for <br />fiscal year 1995 is $800,000. <br /> <br />USDA'S salinity control program involves voluntary "cost-share" projects on <br />farms and on lands adjacent to farms. Applicants agree to construct, <br />operate, and maintain an irrigation improvement project designed to <br />reduce the amount of salt contributed to the river as a result of irrigation <br />practices. Primarily, these projects improve irrigation methods and <br />delivery systems, thereby reducing the seepage and deep percolation of <br />salt into the groundwater. The projects include improving sprinkler <br />systems, installing pipe, and lining delivery canals. Landowners who wish <br />to participate in the program submit an application to the local USDA office; <br />each office assigns a priority to each application received. For example, in <br />the Grand Valley project area, priorities are based primarily on need-that <br />is, projects are ranked according to the level of salinity in the area Thus, a <br /> <br />Department of <br />Agriculture <br /> <br />8Salinity Control on BLM Administered Public Lands in the Colorado River Basin, A Report to <br />Congress, July 1987, U.s. Department of the Interior (Washington, D.C.: July 1987). <br /> <br />Page 22 <br /> <br />GAOIRCED-95"58 Salinity Control Projects in the Colorado River Basin <br />