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<br />AC1'IVITIES OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE IN COLORADO RIVER BASIN <br /> <br />Warren T. Murphy, Field Representative, Office of the Secretary <br /> <br />In February 1951 the Secretary of Agriculture issued instructions <br />to bring about more effective integration of the work of agencies of the <br />Department in resource conservation and use. Primarily affected are the <br />Soil Conservation Service, Production and Marketing Administration, Forest <br />Service and Farmers Home Administration. An important step is the housing <br />of SOS, PMA, and FHA County and state Offices in one building. Where feasible, <br />Extension Service and Forest Service offices are also being consolidated. <br />National11, consolidations at the county level have been accomplished in <br />almost 50.percent of the localities. Lack of suitable accommodations is the <br />principal barrier. These consolidations, besides bringing about closer working <br />relations 'among the agencies, will effect economy and provide a "one stop" <br />service for the farmer. <br /> <br />During the past year the Soil Conservation Service has provided <br />technical assistance to 349 local Soil Conservation Districts in the seven <br />States of the Colorado River Basin. At the end of the year 27,540 individual <br />farm and ranch conservation plans were in force. More than 32,218,000 acres <br />were included. <br /> <br />In the Grand Junction, Colorado, area the SCS, with the Bureau of <br />Plant Industry, Soils and Agricultural Engineering, the Colorado State A & M <br />College, and local organizations, has started drainage and land reclamation <br />investigations. These studies center around methods of restoring to their <br />original productivity thousands of acres in the vicinity which have gone out <br />of production or sustained serious drops in yield. <br /> <br />The scope of the Agricultural Conservation Program is indicated by <br />payments made in recent years as follows, to assist farmers and ranchers in <br />carrying out conservation practices. <br /> <br />Arizona <br />Nevada <br />Utah <br />Wyoming <br /> <br />1950 <br />1950 <br />1949 <br />1949 <br /> <br />$1,680,321 <br />259,617 <br />1,120,579 <br />1,407,5:31 <br /> <br />Payments in Arizona covered installation of 495 erosion control structures, <br />leveling 27,759 irrigated acres, construction or enlargement of 77 storage <br />reservoirs, and other work. <br /> <br />During 1951 the SOS began providing technical supervision of the <br />design and installation of permanent soil and water conservation structures <br />under the Agricultural Conservation Program. The Forest Service undertook <br />technical supervision of forestry practices under the program. <br /> <br />The Forest Service, with the Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quarantine <br />continued the large Engelmarm Spruce Bark Beetle Control job started last year <br />in Colorado. Approximately 200,000 trees on 30,000 acres were treated at a <br />cost of $650,000. This outbreak has destroyed several billion board feet of <br />standing spruce timber. Control work will be continued in 1952. In New Mexico <br /> <br />-3- <br />