WASHINGTON, D.C. TRIP 



By Dale Marxer 



This is a brief report of the trip 

 Pete Jackson, Ole Ueland, Carl 

 Johnson, John Vanisko and I made to 

 Washington, D.C. March 15-19. 



We visited with Mr. Carlson of the 

 Agricultural Research Service. Here 

 we received good news. Mr. Carlson 

 stated it looks hopeful for us to 

 receive some funds for saline seep 

 research and that Dr. Brown would 

 probably be transferred to Ft. 

 Benton. 



The weather was beautiful, the mag- 

 nolia and dogwood were in bloom and 

 we got to see what rain looks and 

 feels like. I don't know how the 

 rest of you are fixed for moisture 

 but around Great Falls, it is dry. 



Pete was attending the NACD Direc- 

 tors Meetings . We attended their 

 meetings also whenever we were not 

 on Capitol Hill. They had some 

 very interesting sessions . 



We spent Friday visiting with our 

 Congressmen, with Richard Shoup 

 for an hour, with John Melcher 

 and staff. Then on to the old 

 Senate Office Building where we 

 had an hour and a half in a joint 

 meeting with Senators Mansfield 

 and Metcalf s staffs. 



We talked to all of them about the 

 REAP, SCS, and related programs. 

 It looks like a real Mexican stand- 

 off between the Congress and the 

 President on the issue of prior- 

 ities and funding. In the mean- 

 time, time is fast running out 

 for restoration of many funds for 

 this year. 



We discussed some items in regard 

 to Forest Service and private own- 

 ership boundaries . 



We inquired about the SEEK proposal 

 which was submitted again. 



The saline seep situation was dis- 

 cussed, as was revenue sharing. We 

 learned there are no funds for the 

 Rural Development Act of 1972 to 

 date. 



We also visited the Soil Conserva- 

 tion Service Office and had an 

 interesting discussion there. 



We met and talked with Assistant 

 Secretary of Agriculture Robert W. 

 Long. He is in charge of Conser- 

 vation, Research, and Education. 

 He felt the REAP Program needed 

 some cleaning up and that perhaps 

 there should be some type of pro- 

 gram on a contract basis such as 

 Great Plains . We were quick to 

 point out that the Great Plains 

 Program is not available to every- 

 one. Mr. Long is a very down to 

 earth person and we enjoyed talking 

 to him. 



We also visited with Assistant 

 Secretary for Rural Development 

 Will Erwin. He stated that there 

 are 70 Congressmen that have no ag- 

 ricultural land in their district at 

 all and another 50 that have less 

 than 10% of their district in ag- 

 ricultural land. So you can see 

 why agriculture is so outnumbered. 



At the EPA Office, the top man for 

 Water Programs, John Rhett, Jr. said 

 he was formerly with the Corp of 

 Engineers and has worked with 

 Conservation Districts for a long 

 time and he assured us that he would 

 cooperate with us anyway he could. 

 He pointed out that agriculture 

 in general needs to do a better job 

 of public relations. Many of the 

 other persons said the same thing. 



We feel that our trip was very 

 worthwhile. The Congressmen and 

 administration officials appreciated 

 very much visiting with them about 

 our concerns. 



