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Show I " ' 1 - . ' "V ' ,;. ' J"' ' " "' "rv !.-' - . t .. " 5 f . t .v .- . ; -r. ;,rt s . , , r ------ .v - - v. I .: " : j "' ' - H- ' . j i - . ----cc . ' "'... - I -'"""""--. ' f . - '..'. .v tcr'3" ? . , - - - ' ' '- ' .; .' . ' " ) . . I i . . ',(. ...... , fi - '.r- . ... t Lt. .-..... i' i i ii i nr--t nn ,- 1l...(Mi -.t f M ii -n-y -in ii i iA'LJ ' lJ SCS Land Maps Aid In Wartime Production The Soil Conservation Service In the Southwest Region has a "selective service" system for the land Just as the nation has a selective se-lective service method of choosing Its ablest men for active military duty. To help farmers and ranchers In boosting wartime agricultural production without causing serious erosion damage, the Service has prepared land use capability maps on more than 70,000 acres of range land and on nearly 50,000 acres of farm land In Southern Utah. The survey of Iron County has been Initiated In-itiated and maps should be available avail-able for use some time this fall. By consulting these maps, the agricultural producer knows how intensively each acre of land may be cultivated and he also understands under-stands the safeguards necessary to avoid soil and water losses, P. P. Howard, District Conservationist tor the Iron County Soil Conservation Conser-vation District, stated today. Since the various kinds of land are carefully outlined on aerial photographs, the farmer or rancher ranch-er has an actual picture of his property pro-perty to guide him in his crop or range planning. Farm lands are charted as Class 1, II, in, or IV, and range and forest lands as' Class V, VI, or VTI. Class VIII represents lands which should be retired from use. These classifications, Howard explained, depend upon a variety of factors such as land slope, existing erosion ero-sion damage, type of soil, amount of rainfall and height of water table. The picture above, taken In a typical southwestern valley, illustrates illus-trates five classes of land. Class n and Class III are cultivated lands. The other classes VI, VTI, and VIII are on range land. Class I, not shown on this picture, represents repre-sents extremely good farming land that has little or no erosion hazards. haz-ards. Class II lands may be cultivated safely with only simple conservation conserva-tion practices such as low terraces, use of fertilizers or contour farming. farm-ing. Class HI lands, on the other hand, are more subject to erosion and may require complex conservation conser-vation practices, such as Installation Installa-tion of special terraces, revetments or dikes. In the center of the picture, the land along the creek Is labeled Class VIII. it Is not suitable for cultivation and livestock should be excluded because of serious erosion hazards. If vegetation Is removed, flood waters will slash Into the fields on each side of the creek. In the background of the picture,' pic-ture,' at the base of the hills, Is a narrow strip of Class VI land, which Is moderately susceptible to erosion and should be used only for livestock grazing. The hills on each side of the valley are classified as VII or VIII land, depending largely upon the severity of land slope and lack of vegetative protection. This land e-rodes e-rodes very easily, particularly if much of the vegetative cover Is removed through overgrazing or through unwise timber harvesting. If these watershed areas were denuded, rain water would rush down hill, cutting deep gullies and damaging the cultivated land that lies In the valley below. Severe re-strlctlons re-strlctlons In use are recommended for the Class VII lands and exclusion exclu-sion of livestock from the Class VIII. Additional land use capability maps are being prepared In crltl-ted, crltl-ted, from existing surveys on more cal production areas, Howard sta-than sta-than 24,000.000 acres of range land and more than 500,000 acres of farm. land. |