10 



Lund Planning Report 



farms are uneconomic and undesirable. (See descrip- 

 tion of social and economic conditions in areas in vvliich 

 it is desirable to encourage the withdrawal of arable 

 farming.) In other parts of the region subject to 

 recurrent droughts, but wliich are somewhat better 

 agriculturally, it is believed desirable to increase the 

 size of crop farms to permit the substitution of pasture 

 for some of the crop land on farms, or to permit the 

 increased use of summer fallow on cash grain farms. 



A few years of above-the-average rainfall m the 

 northern, or of pronounced drought in the southern 

 Great plams would no doubt result in a somewhat 

 different designation of problem areas than the present 

 one. The recognition of land-use problems in the 

 Great Plains of Kansas, Oklahoma, and Te.xas was con- 

 fined largely to the problem of controlling wind erosion, 

 although small areas in which it is believed desirable to 

 replace crop farming with grazing were mdicated in 

 Kansas and Oklahoma. 



California Valleys and Foothills. — Major adjustments 

 recommended: (1) Local withdrawal of crop farmuig 

 in the less productive areas, converting the laud with- 

 drawn to constructive use; (2) locally, increasing the 

 size of farms so as to provide economic units, to permit 

 the e.xtension of pasture on poor or eroding land, and 

 to permit reduction in crop aci'eage in irrigated areas 

 which are subject to progressive diminution of the water 

 supply; (3) instituting of measures to control soil 

 erosion on farms needing no increase in size; (4) more 

 judicious use of the range so as to prevent forage 

 depletion, soil erosion, and injury to water supplies; 

 (5) provision of adequate drainage for irrigated farm 

 lands. 



Objectives of the land-use adjustments indicated as 

 desirable appear to be the conservation of land, water, 

 or forest resources in the interest of the common good; 

 although in some cases, the alleviation of poverty and 

 the reduction of liigh cost of governmental services 

 associated with uneconomic use of land or scattered 

 settlement, is paramount. 



Erosion, both on farm and range lands, requires 

 control to prevent further waste of the land resource. 

 On some irrigation projects in which ground water is 

 pumped, progressive lowering of the water table and 

 depletion of the supply is in progress. It is believed 

 necessary to reduce the drain by reducing acreage in 

 crops requiring water within the project until a stable 

 condition is reached. Much irrigated land has been 

 reduced in productivity by alkali accumulations result- 

 ing from inadequate drainage. The provision of 

 drainage is suggested in these cases. 



Scattered through the foothills and coast ranges as 

 well as on the poorer lands of the Sacramento-San 

 Joaquin Valley are farms which it is thought should 



be replaced in their entirety by stock ranches or other 

 grazing properties. 



Columbia Basin. — Major adjustments advocated: 

 (1) Widespread replacement of grain farming by exten- 

 sive grazing; (2) more judicious use of the range, so as 

 to prevent forage depletion and soil erosion. 



Arid Gracing and Irrigated Region. — Major adjust- 

 ments advocated: (1) More judicious use of the range 

 so as to prevent forage depletion, soil erosion and 

 injury to water supply; (2) withdrawal of arable farm 

 land from scattered dry-farming areas, replacing it 

 with extensive grazing, and preventing expansion of 

 dry-farming, also replacmg arable farming on parts 

 of a few irrigated areas; (3) increasing size of units so 

 as to decrease both aggregate crop acreage and num- 

 ber of families on irrigation projects which have a 

 population too great for water supply. 



The problem of the imcontrolled use of the range 

 has been troublesome in this region, particularly in 

 those sections in which the dominance of public 

 domain range, makes impracticable the fencing of 

 private lands. Stockmen, unable to control, by fenc- 

 ing, the use of the land their stock graze, are forced to 

 keep their ranges overstocked and grazed to the limit 

 in order to prevent the appropriation of forage by new- 

 comers. The Taylor Grazing Act provides a means of 

 overcoming tliis problem by the establishment of graz- 

 ing districts, in which grazing will be under control. 

 As its provisions are carried out, the extent of eroded 

 and overgrazed range may be materially decreased. 



There is also some overgrazing, erosion, and conse- 

 quent injury to forage and water supply on privately 

 owned ranch lands, and on Indian reservations, where 

 some measiu'e of improved range management is desir- 

 able. 



In the arid portion of Texas, where the grazing land 

 is almost entirely in private ownership and under fence, 

 overgrazing and depletion of the range appears to be 

 less common than in the public land States. 



Other land-use problems of the arid grazing and 

 irrigated region are small, widely scattered, and have 

 to do with the use of low-grade dry-farnnng land which 

 should be returned to grazing, and with occasional irri- 

 gation projects having inadequate water supply and 

 poor soil, or with land which is in financial distress. 



Miscellaneous Agricultural Regions 



Northeastern Agricultural Region. — Major adjust- 

 ments advocated: (1) Local withdrawal of crop farm- 

 ing in a few scattered areas; (2) instituting of erosion- 

 control measures in some of the hillier areas. 



Although possessed of a great deal of land of low 

 agricultural productivity along with much that is agri- 

 culturally desirable, the northeastern agricultural 



