296 CONFERENCE ON NATURAL BEAUTY 



Progress will require the continuing support and participation 

 of a variety of local organizations. Important among these are the 

 3,000 soil and water conservation districts organized under State 

 laws in the 50 States, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. They 

 are operated by local people and concern themselves with the con- 

 servation, development, and management of land, water, and related 

 natural resources. These local subdivisions of State government 

 cover more than 95 percent of all the privately owned lands of the 

 Nation. It is through them that the Department of Agriculture 

 provides technical and other assistance to more than two million land- 

 owners and operators and to thousands of communities. 



Consideration should be given to a program designed to improve 

 the appearance of farmlands and farmsteads as well as the rights- 

 of-way adjoining the Nation's main-travelled highways. Cost- 

 sharing and technical assistance would be important for progress on 

 these properties. 



Consideration should also be given to the development of poten- 

 tially pleasing vistas of unique or particularly pleasing natural beauty, 

 extending well beyond the highway rights-of-way and the immedi- 

 ately adjoining farmlands. Attention to these vistas, especially roll- 

 ing lands that have gone out of production or are scheduled for re- 

 tirement from cultivation, could be most rewarding. 



Most important, probably, is recognition that land and water are 

 basic elements in the restoration and enhancement of natural beauty 

 in the countryside. They are the source of the wealth that makes 

 improvement of the farmstead possible. And they are, in themselves, 

 the very substance of the rural landscape demanding attention. 



Questions and Discussion 



STEPHEN COLBY. I would like to make a statement in regard to 

 the Resource Conservation and Development Programs of the Soil 

 Conservation Service, in particular, and to all governmental pro- 

 grams in general. I am on the Southern Illinois University Advisory 

 Committee to the Shawnee District R.C. & D. program of the S.C.S. 

 I find the Shawnee District, as organized by the S.C.S., divides the 

 Greater Egypt Regional Planning Commission area in half which 

 creates potential problems by causing cross-currents that could im- 

 pair the effect of both programs. 



