1990 Farm Bill Forum 



Proceedings 



Getting into water issues, we have passed some 

 bills. Senate Bill 166 allows the administration 

 of temporary preliminary decrees and prelimi- 

 nary decrees within the district court. Previous 

 to that they were being handled by a water 

 court that was completely out of our district. 

 We're hoping the bill solved that problem. 

 Senate Bill 167 will allow the courts to reopen 

 water right decrees for objections, but only on 

 objections that have not been heard or adjudi- 

 cated or litigated previous to that. 



Senate Bill 169 allows temporary preliminary 

 decrees and preliminary decrees to be used for 

 adjudication and administration purf>oses of 

 water rights. The reason we can't come up with 

 a final decree is that many streams in the state 

 are still going to be litigated due to federal and 

 Indian claims on some streams. A resolution 

 could be 10 years down the road, but to get the 

 process moving, we've allowed the courts to go 

 ahead and administer on temporary prelimi- 

 nary decrees and preliminary decrees. 



Senate Bill 183 includes the Missouri River 

 Basin in the water reservation process. July 1, 

 1989, has been established as the origination 

 date of the reservation and all reservations have 

 to be filed by December 31, 1993. Senate Bill 447 

 amends the water reservation law to allow that 

 the date you submit a complete application for 

 a water reservation will be your priority date on 

 that reservation. Previous to this you waited 

 until there was board action by the Department 

 of Natural Resources and Conservation before 

 you actually had a date. 



Probably the most controversial bill during the 

 session was House Bill 707, the Water Leasing 

 Bill. A study on this subject has been author- 

 ized. What the Fish and Game has been allowed 

 to do is to find stream reaches within Montana 

 and see if they can find a place where there is 

 no opposition to leasing water to see if leasing 

 is beneficial. I think we need to determine the 

 length of time that they need the water, volume 

 of water that's going to be needed, and the 

 effects on junior appropriators. Under existing 

 law any time you can't use your water it just 

 goes to the next appropriator on the stream. We 

 need to identify with those problems or else 

 we'll never see water leasing in the state of 

 Montana. 



Dick Gooby 



State Conservationist 

 Soil Conservation Service 



FSA Planning Progress 



The 1985 Food Security Act was created by 

 Congress and many Department of Agriculture 

 agencies are carrying out that congressional 

 mandate. Soil Conservation Service, ASCS, 

 Extension, Farmers Home Administration, 

 Federal Crop Insurance, and many others have 

 been involved. 



SCS extends a special thanks to conservation 

 districts and the Montana Association of Con- 

 servation Districts for all of their work in 

 helping to get the conservation job done and 

 their continuing work in that aspect. District 

 sup>ervisors reviewed all FSA conservation 

 plans and pro\ided us many comments on 

 alternative conservation systems. 



FSA has also given us the opportunity to work 

 more closely with Montana Grain Growers; 

 Farm Bureau; Montana Salinity Control Asso- 

 ciation; livestock organizations, including the 

 Montana Woolgrowers, Montana Cattlemen 

 and Montana Cowbelles, and the Montana 

 Grazing District Association; Farmers Union; 

 WIFE; and many others I have not mentioned. 

 Many of these groups helped us by explaining 

 the conservation provisions to their members 

 and encouraging them to get their plans com- 

 pleted. 



SCS strongly believes in the voluntary approach 

 to conservation. We have more than 50 years of 

 experience providing quality technical assis- 

 tance to producers who want to apply conser- 

 vation. With FSA our interest is to help farmers 

 who choose to comply with the conservation 

 provisions stay eligible for farm programs. 



Our goal is to keep Montana's agricultural 

 producers in business, while at the same time 

 help them develop conservation systems they 

 can live with and still accomplish Congress' 

 intent. 



We've been very busy at SCS for three years 

 with FSA. Let's look at what's happened. 



Montana Chapter, Soil and Water Conservation Society 



August 28, 1888 



