MONTANA ACP ALLOCATION RECEIVED 



SCSA MEETING HAS GOOD PROGRAM 



Funds totaling $5,236,000 have been allocated 

 to Montana for cost-sharing assistance to local 

 fanners cooperating in the 1968 agricultural 

 conservation program, according to Mrs. J. 

 Viola Herak, Chairman of the Montana Agricul- 

 tural Stabilization Conservation Committee. 

 The purpose of the program is to help solve 

 major soil, water, and wildlife conservation 

 problems on the Nation's agricultural lands. 



The $5,236,000 allocation for 1968 is 

 $172,000 more than the allocation received in 

 1967 for doing conservation work. Available 

 funds authorized by Congress are allocated to 

 all the states on the basis of a National 

 Inventory of Soil & Water Conservation Needs 

 conducted by the Department of Agriculture. 

 The Needs Inventory is being updated at this 

 time. 



County allocations will be made available 

 to county ACP development groups prior to the 

 time they develop the 1968 county program 

 later this fall. 



In addition to the allocation, notification 

 has been received that the National ACP reg- 

 ulations have been approved by the Secretary. 

 Some changes of interest to Montana farmers 

 are included In the 1968 program. 



One change included for 1968 has been 

 recommended by several county ACP develop- 

 ment groups and the Montana ACP Development 

 Group for several years. This is the removal 

 of the "two out of five year" eligibility re- 

 quirement under several irrigation practices. 

 This permits cost-sharing under ACP for the 

 installation of new irrigation systems on land 

 already in agricultural production. This is 

 in addition to reorganization of old irriga- 

 tion systems that has been cost-shared for 

 many years. Another restriction has also been 

 removed. Several irrigation and drainage 

 practices have provided in the past that where 

 these practices were applied, the land could 

 not be used for small grains or row crops for 

 five years. 



The general program principles have been 

 completely rewritten to state in a most pos- 

 itive way the objectives the program hopes to 

 achieve rather than to state what activities 

 are to be denied cost-sharing assistance. 

 This places the program more in keeping with 

 the objectives of "Agriculture/ 2000." 



Mrs. Herak points out that individual county 

 ACPrograms will be developed later this fall. 



Continued on Page 5 



The Montana Chapter of the Soil Conservation 

 Society of America annual meeting in Levlstown, 

 July 23-25, had an outstanding program. 

 Recreation was the topic of discussion. 



Tours of various areas of recreation poten- 

 tial contributed to the enjoyment of the meet- 

 ing. Superintendent McLaughlin of Yellowstone 

 Park really set the keynote as he told of the 

 factors that go into recreation, the growing 

 demands for various types of recreation, and 

 the need to plan and manage for recreation as 

 a land use. He told the group that recreation 

 is a responsibility of government at all levels 

 as well as of private enterprise. 



Quite likely recreation will become Montana's 

 largest industry, as it is now in some other 

 states. Economically it is good business. 



David Drum, Billings businessman and a state 

 legislator, told of ways to capitalize on 

 recreation, especially in the area of private 

 enterprise. He stated Montana's capabilities 

 are endless. At the present Montanans are com- 

 placent. 



As a wrap-up to the meeting. Dr. Erland Hehn 

 of Montana State University left the impression 

 that all seemed to have, that recreation is a 

 solid industry; it is becoming respected. Much 

 has been accomplished in a short time to base 

 its future as a compatible and sometimes com- 

 petitive industry. The members of the Soil 

 Conservation Society are organized to promote 

 the art and science of good land use. Recrea- 

 tion is a part of this land use. 



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

 BACK TO SCHOOL 



As this issue of Treasure Acres goes to press,, 

 school children will be answering the school 

 bell. Of great concern to SWCD Supervisors Is 

 the teaching of conservation as part of the 

 subject matter which students receive. 



Many of Montana's teachers have taken special 

 courses in Conservation which qualifies them to 

 do a better job of teaching conservation as an 

 integrated subject. Many districts add to this 

 by holding conservation workshops for teacherp 

 and distributing conservation reference material 

 Several districts have made it a project to 

 visit school and public libraries to assure that 

 adequate reference books are on hand. Also of 

 concern to supervisors is the shortage of 

 trained technicians to do 'conservation work, 

 such as soil scientists, conservation engineers, 

 etc. More of our young people need to be en- 

 couraged to enter a careeer which will involve 

 the proper use and development of our natural 

 resources. 



