286 
would disrupt this mechanism as little 
as possible. 
Conservationists realize that a return 
to the natural conditions of centuries 
ago is neither possible nor desirable. 
The present population of the country 
could not be maintained on the low 
agricultural productivity that existed 
prior to the voyage of Columbus. Con- 
servationists do believe that the great- 
est possible use should be made of this 
natural mechanism of soil preserva- 
tion. The basis of conservation think- 
ing is that man should work with na- 
ture and natural processes rather than 
in direct opposition to them. This 
basic concept may be translated into 
concrete practices by developing per- 
manent vegetation of some sort for all 
land too steep to farm profitably or 
having such a soil texture as to be in- 
capable of staying in place under agri- 
cultural conditions. In the eastern 
United States such a program requires 
the growing of forests, and in more arid 
sections of the country permanent grass 
or other ground cover is required. A 
cessation of drainage programs is de- 
sirable until a careful determination 
has been made of the present value of 
the land and water and their products, 
the importance of undrained land in 
the storage of water, and the effect 
which draining may be expected to 
have on the reduction of flash run-off, 
not only locally but for the entire 
drainage area involved. Once a com- 
plete study is made, a comparison of 
present values with those that can 
reasonably result from the proposed 
drainage should determine whether or 
not the project is a beneficial one. 
On lands devoted to agriculture, we 
must utilize the best available know]- 
edge to prevent excessive erosion and 
to maintain soil fertility and pro- 
ductivity. Attainment of the desired 
goal may often require contour farming, 
terracing, strip cropping, grassing of 
run-off strip, construction of farm 
ponds, and the employment of various 
other devices by which water is held 
on and forced into the land to the 
maximum possible extent. In areas 
ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1948 
that have been subjected to successive 
erosion, conservation requires a cur- 
ative treatment involving gully con- 
trol, check dams, and permanent 
vegetation. 
Water 
Acre for acre, water is often as pro- 
ductive a basic resource as land, and 
the products of rivers, lakes, and ponds 
are equally valuable to the human 
race. The tremendous tonnage of 
fish, shellfish, and crustaceans used 
each year for human food and for 
other uses may be cited as one of the 
obvious values of areas covered by 
water. The natural water resources 
have been abused even worse than 
those of the land. Fisheries, partic- 
ularly the inland and coastal bay 
fisheries, have declined tremendously 
due to overfishing, the blocking of 
streams by dams, pollution, or exces- 
sive erosion which has silted up the 
streams and lakes until they can no 
longer sustain the quantities and vari- 
eties of life that formerly thrived in 
these areas. Sometimes the decline 
of animal and even plant and human 
life is due to one of these factors alone 
but usually it is the result of a com- 
bination of two or more man-made 
troubles. Yet the productive capabili- 
ties are there; they have merely been 
abused. 
There has been a slowly growing re- 
alization of the necessity for dealing 
with water control on the basis of an 
entire drainage basin rather than by 
isolated projects. It should be ob- 
vious that, insofar as possible, water 
management should start where the 
raindrop falls. ‘To secure the greatest 
value from both land and water, agri- 
cultural and land management prac- 
tices should be such as to retain as 
much rainfall as possible for use on 
the land. An understanding of this 
necessity has resulted in the develop- 
ment of a program of soil conserva- 
tion which, by forcing water into the 
soil and by storing of water in small 
ponds, helps maintain ground-water 
