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Show BLM is Dedicated To Conserving Rehabilitating Land Conserving and rehabilitating the soil, water, and forage resources re-sources on the national land reserve re-serve in Utah is a major task of the Bureau of Land Management. Of the 24 plus million acres, more than one-third (9.6 million acres) are in poor condition. Furthermore, Fur-thermore, because of drought during the past five years and other factors, the trend in condition condi-tion is declining on over 6 million mil-lion acres. Bringing these areas back to full productivity is often a long-term process. On areas with poor vegetative cover, but a residual of reasonably good soil, seeding with suitably adapted species may quickly bring about full productivity. During the past 20 to 25 years, the Bureau of Land Management has seeded nearly 145,000 acres in Utah (mostly crested wheat-grass). wheat-grass). It is estimated that 400,-000 400,-000 additional acres could be seeded. Other areas with poor soil base or low annual precipi- tation will require treatment which may not show any effect for a number of years. Additional acreage can perhaps be seeded if the area is first treated with some means of retaining runoff water, such as contours, dikes or terracing. As yet, only a very small acreage has been contour-furrowed contour-furrowed in Utah (about 1,500 acres). To reduce excessive runoff run-off and retard erosion, about 133,000 lineal feet of dikes have been built in Utah. Broad estimates esti-mates indicate that over 2 million lineal feet of dikes and more than 100.000 acres of furrowing can be done. In some areas proper management manage-ment will be the only treatment possible and can be "speeded up" by building fences and developing devel-oping additional livestock water. This would distribute livestock use over a broader area and permit per-mit a "rest period" from grazing use each year for the native vegetative growth, thus allowing opportunity for seed to establish new plants and provide more cover. During the current fiscal year ending June 30, 1962, BLM in Utah is: (1) seeding an additional addi-tional 25,000 acres; (2) contour furrowing 1,100 acres; (3) building build-ing 248 additional miles of fence, and (4) developing 88 additional stockwatering facilities. |