124 



Testimony of Jotrn rcrccvlch. owner and operator of Factola Fines Marina . Rapid Cit>'. 

 South Dakota. 



Betore giving this testimony, I would like to give you a bnef background of my life here 

 in the Black Hills. I am a Black Hills native, bom in Deadwood and raised on a ranch in 

 Euglewood. I received my education in Euglewood, Lead, and Black Hills State College. 

 I have lived here all my life except for a tour of duty in the US Navy in Korea and Japan. 

 My grandparents on both sides were immigrants from Ireland and Yugoslavia arriving in 

 the Black Hills in the late 1800's, One of my grandfathers made his living cutting timber 

 for the mines. My other giandfather worked in the mines in Trojan. My fatlier was a 

 rancher in hnglewood, worked in the mines in Irojan, and also worked in the timber. 

 Later in life he sold liis ranch and worked for Homestake Mining Company. He was also 

 caretaker of about 4000 acres of land owned by Golden Reward Mining Company and 

 was responsible for the timber management in that area. 



I have worked for Homestake Mine, in the timber, was a school teacher for 1 1 years, 

 owned a drive-in reslaurdnl, operated a ready mix plant, and am presently operating 

 Pactola Marina. T am giving you this background becaase I believe the future of the 

 Black Hills should be in the hands of people that respect and love it. These same people 

 must earn a living while residing here. 



Five years ago during the worst part of the drought here in Western South Dakota, T did a 

 survey of the economic impact the drought liud on small business. In just recreation 

 related industries in Western South Dakota and Fastem Wyoming, we were looking at a 

 30 million dollar negative impact due to the lack of water in our reservoirs. If you 

 looked at the total impact of gas. food, motels and other related tourist industries, the 

 impact would be tens of millions more. 



During this drought many small business in R.apid Cit>' went out of business. How do 

 you put a dollar value on these businesses tiiat were lost? Duiing this drought the City of 

 Rapid Citj' appointed committees to study this drought and to come up with some criteria 

 to alleviate the drought and to prevent it from happening again. Some of the criteria 

 they established are listed below: 



1 . Keep water conservation a top priority even in moist years. 



2. Proper timber management of cuuing and thinning in the Western South 

 Dakota and Eastern Wyoming v.atersheds that fill our reservoirs to attain 

 maximum runoff of water. 



3. Proper management of water by the contracting agencies that control the 

 water. ( e.g. Bureau of Reclamation.) 



There were other criteria set up by the committee but these were the most 

 important. 



