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CHARLES W. HODDE water in the stream as on the water in the bottom foot of the channel dredged out for its accomoda- tion. Any reduction in flow increases channel maintenance problems. Ocean going ships get larger and larger, requiring deeper channels for their passage. Within the past month, two such ships have made news by being stuck on sandbars in the Columbia. River regulation for flood control is being accomplished on the Columbia, but still has a long way to go on coastal and west side streams. Industry and towns crowd onto the flood plains and re- quire protection. Water planning and land planning develop a very close relationship in Northwest coastal communities. The Pacific Northwest has rather distinct geographical divisions of concepts for water planning, dictated by the pattern of development of commerce and industry and the over-all supply of water available. Southern Idaho and Eastern Oregon are forced by insufficient quantities of water to plan a- head on a concept of consumptive use, much as is the case in the Pacific Southwest. The amount of irrigable land adjacent to the upper Snake River and its tributaries in Southern Idaho and Eastern Ore- gon, as well as that part of Oregon in the closed basins east of the Cascades, is greater than the waters of those areas will supply. Generally the remainder of the region is supplied adequately for all fore- seeable agricultural development if no other uses require priority over agriculture. However, this por- tion of the region, including Central and Northern Idaho, Western Montana, all of Washington state, and Oregon west of the Cascades, is not able to plan on a concept of consumptive use. Too much of its present commerce and pattern of living has developed a dependence on uses of the water in the steambed for us to contemplate dry river beds or even greatly reduced flows. Very substantial further diversion of water for consumptive use must occur in the future, and each increase will cause some de- crease in water available for power, fish, navigation, industrial cooling, quality maintenance, wildlife support, and recreational use. Multiple use in this part of the region means much more than power, ir- rigation, and municipal and industrial water supply. A third factor spread through the region that is much prized by the Nation, possibly more by those outside the Northwest than our local citizens, is dedication of resources to preservation of nat- ural environment. How much is. illustrated by calling attention to the following present and imme- diately prospective areas set aside. Mt. Rainier, the Olympics, Crater Lake, Grand Teton, Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks are headwater sources. The North Cascades Park appears a certainty. The Cascades and Bitterroot wilderness areas and the proposed wild rivers, such as the Rogue, Salmon and south fork of the Skagit, also require consideration. Wildlife and migratory bird refuges are of great importance to sportsmen of both the Northwest and the Southwest. All these must be fitted into Qlr future plans in a substantial way. . Only in a place like the Pacific Northwest could we contemplate meeting all these require- ments for the next 50 years or more in a fairly adequate way, not only for the residents of the North- west, but for milliotE of citizens from regions favored in many ways, but not with adequate water supplies for such a varied program. We have under way in the Pacific Northwest, under sponsorship and coordination of the Paci- fic Northwest River Basins Commission, a regional framework plan which we refer to as the Colum- bia-North Pacific study. This study is part of the series of such studies being fostered by the Water Re- sources Council - - three and eventually four of which will cover the Pacific Southwest. We are getting close to the stage of identifying the resources of the next region and also the present use of the water resources. The next step will be the projection of future needs and how they can be satisfied. This study is being closely involved with the Commission staff, in order to effect a transition into produc- tion of a detailed joint comprehensive plan for the Northwest with a minimum of inefficiency and lost effort. Optimum benefits from either development or preservation is our goal. The central techni- cal staff of the Columbia-North Pacific study is being housed with the Commission. Daily contact with progress is occurring. A Commission staff member is chairman of the technical staff coordinating -39-