:ONSERVATION CHARLEY by Harry Corry 



Heaven's Nectar - Growing Juice - Rain, Snow, 

 Jieet and Fog - Water. Any way you speJ I it 

 /ou end up with one of our basic necessities of 

 life. 



Perhaps we should all take a closer look at 

 )ur water resources occasionally. What do they 

 nean tp'us? What responsibility for the wise 

 and proper use of these resources do we have 

 to ourselves, to our companions on this little 

 sail we call the earth and to those who will 

 all it home in the centuries to come. 



Charley was reading an article on the subject 

 t-his morning as he absorbed his breakfast 

 of fee. His wife wasn't getting much conversa- 

 tion out of him but he was getting some good 

 conservation out of the article. It was written 

 Dy the Soil Stewardship Advisory Committee to 

 the National Association of Soil Conservation 

 Districts. 



This Is the article which Charley inhaled 

 with his second cup of Java: 



I "In a world of many choices, you have no choioi 

 jabout water. Vou must have it. Water is the- 

 necessity of the hour and of the ages. It Is 

 'among the supreme gifts of the Lord and He has 

 iprovided no substitute for it. 

 i "Vital to all living things and immense in 

 !lts power, water conditions the course of 

 Inations and Influences the lives of each of us. 

 [It Is the artery of civilization and the con- 

 'stant challenge to man's resourcefulness. Here 

 land now It Is ps personal as your thirst. 

 1 "Our demands on this priceless resource are 

 multiplying; our responsibilities for it are 

 being compelled to invent and manage, sacrifice 

 and share. In order to lengthen the use of what 

 God has given us. There is enough - but only 

 Jf we are stewards of our limited supply, use 

 It with far greater care, and recognize the ur- 

 gency for new and concentrated efforts to meet 

 the oncoming needs. 



"What we have today will not be enough in 

 the years ahead unless we act to halt the waste 

 of pollution, excessive evaporation, and need- 

 less flooding. We must learn to convert the 

 salt water of oceans to fresh water that' can be 

 used to nourish men and their plants and ani- 

 mals. We need to blunt the damaging effects of 

 violent rainstorms striking the earth and de- 

 velop better methods of recharging our under- 

 ground water supplies while they are in use. 



"We must store more water in giant reservoirs 

 for the common good, harness it for power, and 

 develop it for recreation. We need to pro- 

 tect our streams and lakes for the fish and 

 wildlife that so often lack defenders. 



"And across the landscape of thousands of 

 watersheds, there Is opportunity and even obli- 



gation for the good soil steward to manage 

 water for his crops without damage to the land, 

 while capturing billions of raindrops" In the 

 giant reservoir of the soli. By his control of 

 the land and all the water falling on it as 

 rain and snow, the steward has a unique and 

 vital responsibility to God and man to serve as 

 first custodian of the stream of life." 



Charley read the last period twice, glanced at 

 his watch, leaped from his chair, bussed his 

 better half as he galloped by and exclaimed, 

 "Holy Macaroni, Ma, I'm late. It was mighty 

 fine coffee and good-bye." 



************** 

 Leafy Spurge - Inch by. Inch, Continued 



*Based on calf price of $24.00 



**Based on Calf gain of 1.5 pounds per day. 



If weeds were the cause of range being in poor 

 condition, a rancher would lose a gross Income 

 of $1296.00 per section. This next question can 

 agriculture really afford the hidden tax? 



Quite often the arguement is given that you 

 can't afford to control weeds because It costs 

 more than the land is worth. At the present time 

 It costs around $50.00 per acre to control leafy 

 spurge, considering methods and chemical avails 

 able at the present time. Range land, if It 

 could be bought separately would probably cost 

 somehwere around $30.00 to $45.00 per acre. This 

 argument doesn't hold water because we have 

 limited land resources available and the land- 

 owner Is confined to making a living on what he 

 has now. If weeds aren't controlled the weeds 

 still pose a threat to his neighbor's property 

 because they aren't confined to boundary lines, 

 or fence I ines. 



One reason weeds seldom appear to be much of a 

 problem to the average land owner is that a 

 small patch usually spreads slowly at first but 

 speeds up as more land becomes infested. Experi- 

 mental work with the sprea<J of leafy spurge in 

 Canada indicates that the average annual increase 

 is four feet in diameter. Small patches of 7 

 square feet increase in size by 387 times in 

 five years, while large patches increase by only 

 30 times in five years. At these rates of In- 

 crease, landowners can't afford not to control 

 isolated patches of leafy spurge, or any other 

 noxious weeds. 



Controlling weeds is a problem of grave con- 

 sideration. This problem breaks dow.n into two 

 parts: (I) the amount of money required; and 

 (2) actually doing something about them. All 

 too often the last problem prevails rather than 

 the first. 



Fellow we know came back 

 from a trip, raving about how 

 he enjoyed the scenery. Seems^ 

 his wife did the driving, and 

 all he had to do was steer the 

 car. 



