HARRY W. NICE, GOVERNOR. 855

people; that improper land-use practices have caused and have
contributed to, and are now causing and contributing to, a pro-
gressively more serious erosion of the farm and grazing lands
of this State by wind and water; that the breaking of natural
grass, plant, and forest cover have interfered with the natural
factors of soil stabilization, causing loosening of soil and ex-
haustion of humus, and developing a soil condition that favors
erosion; that the topsoil is being blown and washed out of
fields and pastures; that there has been an accelerated wash-
ing of sloping fields; that these processes of erosion by wind
and water speed up with removal of absorptive topsoil, caus-
ing exposure of less absorptive and less protective but more
erosive sub-soil; that failure by any land occupier to conserve
the soil and control erosion upon his lands causes a washing
and blowing of soil and water from his lands onto other lands
and makes the conservation of soil and control of erosion on
such other lands difficult or impossible.

B. THE CONSEQUENCES. That the consequences of such
soil erosion in the form of soil-blowing and soil-washing are
the silting and sedimentation of stream channels, reservoirs,
dams, ditches, and harbors; the loss of fertile soil material in
dust storms; the piling up of soil on lower slopes, and its de-
posit over alluvial plains; the reduction in productivity or out-
right ruin of rich bottom lands by overwash of poor sub-soil
material, sand, and gravel swept out of the hills; deteriora-
tion of soil and its fertility, deterioration of crops grown
thereon, and declining acre yields despite development of sci-
entific processes for increasing such yields; loss of soil and
water which causes destruction of food and cover for wild-
life; a blowing and washing of soil into streams which silts
over spawning beds, and destroys water plants, diminishing
the food supply of fish; a diminishing of the underground wa-
ter reserve, which causes water shortages, intensifies periods of
drought, and causes crop failures; an increase in the speed
and volume of rainfall run-off, causing severe and increasing
floods, which bring suffering, disease, and death; impoverish-
ment of families attempting to farm eroding and eroded lands;
damage to roads, highways, railways, farm buildings, and
other property from floods and from dust storms; and losses
in navigation, hydro-electric power, municipal water supply,
irrigation developments, farming, and grazing.

C. THE APPROPRIATE CORRECTIVE METHOD. That to con-
serve soil resources and control and prevent soil erosion, it is
necessary that land-use practices contributing to soil wastage
and soil erosion be discouraged and discontinued, and appro-
priate soil-conserving land-use practices be adopted and car-
ried out; that among the procedures necessary for widespread