, ,;^<;V.CD CONVENTION HAS A VERY BUSY AND PRODUCTIVE 

 SESSION 



The Hill County Board of Supervisors' hosted a 

 ..very successful convention. The theme of the 

 Convention "Your Public Image" struck home the 

 fnct that there just aren't very many people 

 who know who or what an SWCD is and does. 



Speakers ^indicated that they did not know what 

 a Soil & Water Conservation District was prior 

 to preparing for this meeting. 



Amonr, the resolutions passed were: 



1. Endorsing enabling legislation on Multi- 

 purpose Conservancy Districts by amending the 

 SWCD Law. 



2. That a legislative study be made on Mont- 

 ana Water Rights Law. 



3. Recommend that all Districts having pro- 

 posed Bureau of Reclamation Projects make a 

 study as to the merits of the projects and make 

 a decision as to their feasibility. 



4. That the Bureau of Land Management be 

 authorized to carry out remonumentatlon work 

 and be given adequate funds for this work on 



a state-wide basis on private and public lands. 



5. Ask that the Agricultural Research Service 

 and the Experiment Station place special em- 

 phasis on research leading to the control on 

 noxious weeds and that the Association give 

 such strong support and encouragement for the 

 establishment and enlargement of Weed Control 

 Districts throughout the state. 



6. Ask the Extension Service to impanel a 

 group of specialists from the various agencies 

 to find out the pros and cons of the current 

 dispute of the sage brush spraying question 

 and report their findings. 



7. That the MASWCD and SSCC make known to 

 government officials and other organizations 

 the status that Soil & Water Conservation Dis- 

 tricts have and to recognize SVJCDs as a coor- 

 dinating legal sub-division of government at 

 the local level not to be by-passed in resource 

 development matters. 



8. That the individual SWCD Boards appoint 

 two non-voting urban representatives as Associ- 

 ate Supervisors. 



9. Get a Conservation Coordinator reacti- 

 vated in the Department of Public Instruction 

 and work on the legislators to provide a 

 budget for such a position. 



10. That the State Association consider em- 

 ploying a Public Relations Firm as a consul- 

 tant to improve the public relations program 

 of the Soil & Water Conservation Districts. 

 About 20 other resolutions were acted upon. 



The Ipase. broker and his 

 wife had saved their hard-won 

 nickels and dimes and at last 

 lioucht a place that exactly 

 suited them, out on the edge 

 of lUllines, They called it 

 "Oloo Acres," because it was 

 one of the cheaper spreads... 



Open Letter of 11. 



ird, Cnntlnued 



these in order of importance to the overall 

 soil and water conservation job. You will 

 probably come up with well over twenty-five. 

 Then, take the top t\m to five of the jobs and 

 make plans to get them done or good progress 

 made in the year ahead. To accomplish these 

 high priority jobs sufficient time should be 

 devoted to get a high quality job done. 



The above suggestion is made because I be- 

 lieve that in the past too many things have beer 

 undertaken and thus it was difficult to get a 

 good job done on many of them. 



One othet suggestion comes to mind. The people 

 - all the people, not just the land operators - 

 must become interested and participate in the 

 full development of our basic natural resources. 

 They have an interest whether they realize it 

 or not because they naturally want to bp assured 

 of adequate food and fiber at a reasonable cost. 

 They also have a vote and how much Is done to 

 conserve our natural resources will depend to 

 a large degree on what the voters and the 

 elected officials think and believe in at the 

 city, district, county, state and national 

 levels. 



So, my second suggestion is to work with all 

 the people. In my opinion, this is a high pri- 

 ority job. Some groups to work with include 

 Wildlife Federations, County Commissioners and 

 their State Association, Montana School Dis- 

 tricts Association, Montana Stockgrowers, 

 Voolgrowers, Crain Growers Association, city 

 officials and their State Association, Chambers 

 of Commerce, Farm Bureau, Farmers Union, 

 National Grange, Kiwanis, Rotary, Lions and 

 Optimists Clubs and the many like organizations 

 (no attempt to name them all) in each county 

 or district. 



In working with the above groups, there 

 should be two objectives - one to create an 

 understanding and Interest of all people in 

 soil and water conservation, and two, to gain 

 their active efforts in support of conserving 

 our basic natural resources. 



I'll be looking forward to future contacts 

 with many of you. I extend thanks to all of 

 you who have been so helpful and considerate 

 to me over the years. SCS, as an organization 

 In ttontana, and I, as an individual, could have 

 accomplished little or nothing without the 

 valuable assistance of the State Soil Conserva- 

 tion Committee, the State Association of SI'CDs, 

 the other cooperating agencies and orRanizatton.«, 

 the individual land operators and all of the 

 friends of soil & water conservation. 



All of your help was greatly appreciated and 

 T wish you the greatest of success in the fiituroV 



Very sincerely, 

 s/s TTFPSCUELL m'Pn 



