s 



Montanans 

 Busy at 



D. C. Meet 



Members of the Montana Association of 

 Conservation Districts— with one of the 

 largest delegations ever— more than 

 made Iheir presence known in Washing- 

 ton, DC. during the annual convention 

 of the National Association of Conserva 

 tion Districts and they got some need- 

 ed work donel 



So reports MACD President Bob And- 

 erson, Fort Benton, who headed the dele- 

 gation of some 35 — most of whom 

 brought their wives to participate in the 

 Ladies Auxiliary program of NACD 



(Shown at right, above, are some of 

 the delegates visiting Montana's East- 

 ern District Congressman John Me/ch- 

 er — dunng breaks m the NACD conven- 

 tion activities ) 



Montanans were active on national-level 

 committees dealing with public lands, edu- 

 cations, research, water resources, dis- 

 trict operations and the Northern Great 

 Plains area meeting Favorable considera- 

 tion by NACD was given MACD resolu- 

 tions on saline seep research, forestry in- 

 ventories and water systems fees on for- 

 est lands 



Montanans serving on NACD com- 

 mittees and subcommittees include 

 Peter V. Jackson (Public Lands, Re- 

 source Planning and Development, 

 and Internal Affairs subcommittee) 

 and Donald O. Fraker (education and 

 Public Lands). Jackson is an NACD 

 director and Fraker is an area vice 

 president for NACD. 



The largest convention ever held by 

 NACU, more than 2.000 delegates, took 

 advantage of the convention site to visit 

 with the various Congressional delega- 

 tions and federal agencies involved with 

 conservation activities. 



Among key actions of NACD was a reso- 

 lution in response to a suit against a PL 

 566 watershed and SCS project to stop 

 all channelization on a North Carolina 

 proiect (channelization east of the Mis- 

 sissippi would be considered irrigation in 

 Montana ) NACD is considering an inter- 

 vener status in the suit 



The proposed cut-back m SCS funding 

 and the use of chemical toxicants on pub- 

 lic lands also was the subject of serious 

 discussion and resolution by the conven- 

 tion 



Ladies auxiliary activities included a 

 visit to the White House where they at- 

 tended a tour and tea, hosted by Mrs. Julie 

 Eisenhower, representing Mrs Nixon 



Montana Siaie UDrarv 



'3'" 0864 1004 5761 6 



^ 



'^^gjjj 



Vol. XXIV, No. I 



January/February, 1972 



MA CD to Place Major Emphasis 

 On Information- Education in 12 



TO AJI Supervisors of Mon- 



tana's County Conserva- 

 tion Districts 

 SUBJECT Adad's generosity (or lack 

 of) to the membership of 

 Montana's major conserva- 

 tion organization! 

 "It a man owe a debt and Adad in- 

 undate his field and carry away 

 produce or. througti lack of water, 

 grain have not grown in the field, 

 in that year he shall not make any 

 return of grain to the creditor . . ." 

 — From the Prologue 

 to the Code of Hammurabi 

 King of Babylon 



At MACD's annual meeting in Mis- 

 soula late in October, the membership 

 gave tentative (and somewhat tenuous) 

 approval to two projects long advocat- 

 ed by MACD's leadership These proj- 

 ects are detailed in the articles in the 

 adjoining columns 



Range/and Resource Plan 

 Gains Momentum in State 



By PETE JACKSON. Chief. 

 It is always pleasant to report progress 

 on any program, but more especially when 

 we are promoting a successful one. 



Several meetings have been held in the 

 past few months to explain and promote 

 the Rangeland Resource Program These 

 meetings have been hosted by conserva- 

 tion districts and extremely gratifying has 

 been the broad representation in attend- 

 ance. 



As a result of our meetings, the program 

 has been implemented by many conserva- 

 tion districts, with many more expressing 

 interest in the program's concept of pro- 

 tection, development and use of our range- 

 lands. 



Grass Conservation Bureau 



In other action by the Grass Conserva- 

 tion Bureau, the second edition of the 

 Rangeland Program has been completed 

 and is ready for distribution. Although not 

 basically changed, this second edition, 

 thanks to the cooperation and workman- 

 ship of the Extension Service, is perhaps 

 a more concise and easily understood 

 booklet Because we feel that we have 

 moved beyond the history stage, this sec- 

 tion of the book has been removed in the 

 second edition. 



One closing comment; In any resource 

 program, the economic factor cannot be 

 overlooked . . . and it is especially vital 

 that we follow the concept of a business 

 approach to resource utilization. 



1 ) The first project is explained in 

 the following resolution adopted by the 

 Convention — "WHEREAS, the Annual 

 Convention Program is viewed as a ma- 

 jor prestige and public information tool 

 of the MACD . . . the publication of an 

 Annual Convention Program worthy of 

 MACD's objectives should reflect key 

 programs undertaken by the member 

 districts during the year previous to 

 its publication THEREFORE, BE IT RE- 

 SOLVED that MACD be authorized to 

 instruct its member districts to furnish 

 the state office of MACD sufficient ma- 

 terial (editorial and /or photographs) 

 of highlight activities of the said dis- 

 tricts to be featured in at least a half- 

 page (4 1-2"x6" area) display section 

 of the 1972 Annual Yearbook /Conven- 

 tion Program, 



FURTHER. BE IT RESOLVED, that this 

 editorial /photographic material be ac- 

 companied by a check for S50 to cover 

 the costs of publication. 

 In essence, what this resolution sug- 

 gests is that MACD publish a meaningful 

 booklet (30-50 pages) of the activities of 

 the various conservation districts in the 

 state (with each district alloted space in 

 the booklet to highlight a key activity of 

 the previous year); that this booklet have 

 sufficient informational value to justify 

 distribution to libraries, schools and key 

 city, county and state leadership groups; 

 and that the costs of publishing a suf- 

 ficient number of the informational book- 

 lets for such distribution be shared by the 

 59 MACD-participating districts. 



It should be pointed out that the S50 

 charge is arbitrary (as well as voluntary) 

 and should actual printing and distribu- 

 tion costs be less, the balance would be 

 refunded to the participating districts 

 Realistically, such a refund would be pos- 

 sible only if all of Montana's conservation 

 districts participated But the arbitrary 

 choice of 350 was felt necessary in order 

 to insure an initial effort in the area by the 

 time of the 1972 Convention 



Also, in order to insure the best possi- 

 (Continued on Page 2) 



2) The second project, more tenuous 

 in nature and certainly the most ambi- 

 tious program ever undertaken by any 

 stale conservation district association, 

 revolves around the application by 

 MCAD for a S74,157 grant from the 

 U.S. Office of Education's Environment- 

 al Education Program. Supported by a 

 resolution, approved by MACD's mem- 

 bership, the association, in cooperation 

 with Montana's Office of State Super- 

 intendent of Public Instruction, asked fi- 

 nancial assistance in — 



a) Broadening the circulation of 

 MACD's publication, TREASURE 

 ACRES, to include every conservation 

 cooperator in Montana (some 20,000 

 plus every school child in the state 

 (in excess of 150,000) with an ex- 

 panded publication designed to 

 appeal not only to dedicated conser- 

 vationists—you—but also to the gen- 

 eral public and certainly including 

 our primary and secondary school 

 children. 



b) Hiring a Conservation Coordinator 

 in the Office of the State Superintend- 

 ent of Public Instruction whose duties 

 will include the writing of a special 

 conservation /environmental insert 

 for TREASURE ACRES which will be 

 available to the school systems for 

 conservation education Additionally, 

 this Coordinator will work with the 

 school systems and Conservation Dis- 



(Continued on Page 3) 



Robert Anderson, President 

 Montana Association of CDs 

 Fort Benton. Montana 



Dear Bob 



Boy oh boy. v^hen I received the 

 TREASURE ACRES with its new look 

 and the Cascade County District News- 

 letter {inserted}. I thought . . . what a 

 job those Montana Cowboys are doing. 

 More power to you. 



Sincerely. 



Robert S McClelland 



Western Program Advisor 



National Association of Conservation 



Districts 



