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Show Farmers In Sanpete County Given Praise For Unusual Dam Record Many years ago a wise Mid-! Mid-! west farmer recognized what ' was happening to good farming ' ! land in America when he said, j "The best part of my farm is j down below New Orleans". j And this week, Preal George, member of the Utah PMA committee, com-mittee, wonders if anyone has j thought to count the number of I farms which go under the bridge ! during a single flood season. He i bases his figures on the fact that the deep accumulations of silt j in the deltas of the great rivers of this country is primarily the 'top soil of farms carried by unchecked un-checked water. Soil Saving Begins at the Top Often the most effective meant of conserving soil and controlling floods is to do a lot of relativeb. small things back in the hills where the floods begin and erosion eros-ion starts, says J. Vern Hopkin, chairman of the Utah PMA committee. com-mittee. "It's just applying the old rule that an ounce of prevention preven-tion is worth a pound of cure," he states. Sanpeie Farmers Lauded There are many examples oi good practices carried out under the Agricultural Conservation Program, says the charman, but cites particularly what ranchers i of Sanpete County, Utah, have j done in recent years to illustrate ! effective cooperation under the i National program, i In the last four years, Sanpete County ranchers constructed 219 i dams under the Agricultural 'Conservation Program. Since : there are only about 200 ranches ;in the county, the 219 dams in-! in-! dicate that .these ranchers an j making real headway with thei ! "ounce of prevention." I But constructing dams is only ' one of many conservation practices prac-tices carried out in .Sanpete county under the program, thr l chairman points cut. In the same period, they reseeded some 21.000 acres of "depleted range j and pasture land. Grazing land management has been carried out on from 150.000 to 275,000 I acres each year. Other practices 1 include deferred grazing, wate: ; spreading dams and ditches ; green manure crops, fencing land-leveling, construction of"" check dams and w-eirs, control of noxious weeds, lining irrigation canals to prevent seepage, drain ditches, protected summer fallow and the reorganization of farm irrigation systems. |