D2o—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, March 22,1980 Regional RCA meeting has small public LANCASTER - The public turn-out for a recent US Department of Agriculture regional public meeting was far from en couraging. In an effort to find out what people would like the USDA to do about its con servation program, 18 regional meetings throughout the Umted States were scheduled for late February and March to discuss the Resources Conservation Act. Lancaster County was the host for one of the eighteen RCA meetings, but at an afternoon and evening session, only a couple dozen people participated. Ac cording to a public in formation specialist for the USDA Soil Conservation Service in Harrisburg, there was only one non-USDA person at the evening meeting. The spokesman for SCS, who did not say the meeting was disappointing or an indication of public apathy, said instead he hoped the reason people weren’t at the regional meeting is because they are planning to attend their local county RCA meetings. Amos Funk, the Lancaster County Conservation District vice-chairman, attended the meeting and made a statement for himself. He said that from the national appraisal there should be ample evidence to indicate that conservation expenditures are economically feasible, and that there is a need for suitable funding. Funk pointed out that this adequate funding hasn’t Upp. For Liquid Manure Storage. 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Funk went on record as saying he thinks the U.S. is beginning to see the need for the solar collecting capability of land through the cultivation of crops. He also stressed the possible conflict in land use when it comes to food, feed, energy, and housing. Robert Yunker, a dairy farmer and director for the Wyoming County Con servation District, travelled to the regional meeting to speak on behalf of New York State’s Conservation District Associations. Yunker cited their con cern that the Northeast doesn’t receive the financial support needed for con servation, along with their recommendations for USDA to consolidate its programs through reorganization, he added that the USDA must put more effort into in formation and education activities. Others who testified at the public meetmg included John Lacey, representing New York’s Soil and Water Conservation Service, and Patnck Lantz, representing the Pa. Bureau of Forestry’s state forestor. The regional meeting was open to anyone throughout the U.S. to attend, noted the SCS public information input specialist. He added that someone could have at tended all eighteen meetings nationwide. All the com ments will be considered when they reach their Washington destination sometime in April. The closest regional meeting to the Lancaster one was held in the nation’s capital. The Lancaster meeting was scheduled to accomodate primarily those people living m Ohio, New York, West Virginia, Maryland and New Jersey, according to the SCS spokesman. Ralph J. McCracken of the RCA information team explained that at a national press conference in Washington, D.C., M. Rupert Cutler, USDA Assistant Secretary for Natural Resources and En vironment, said that “Conservation of soil and water resources is one of America’s major en vironmental issues. ’ ’ McCracken added, “Dr. 1 Cutler noted that a recent 1 Lou Harris Poll of 7,000 Americans conducted for USDA, found that most SPECIALIZIWS IN COMPUTE SYSTEMS FOB HOG AND DAIRY SYSTEMS NEED A FARM - URBAN ■ COMMERCIAL BUILDING? Huskee Gives You More Call Your HUSKEE-BILT MAN! 717-626-5204 MERVIN MILLER BUILDERS Americans consider the misuse of our soil and water resources a serious problem.” That finding, he said is backed up by the physical data complied during the recent USDA appraisal for our nation’s nonfederal soil, water, and related natural resources For example: two billion tons of soil is lost annually by cropland sheet and rill erosion. 97 million acres of cropland are being eroded at more than five tons per acre per year. Three million acres of rural land are being converted to some sort of developed use including one million acres of prune agricultural land lost to development. 500 thousand acres per year of wetlands are being drained and lost including two hundred thousand acres of wet lands lost due to agricultural drainage. By passing the Soil and Water Resources Con servation Act of 1977 Congress directed USDA to appraise the condition of the Nation’s nonfederal renewable resources and proposed alternative con servation programs to guide the nation’s future con servation activities, Mc- Cracken said. RCA is not a program, but rather a process designed to help USDA assess its present 34 soil and water con servation programs and recommend a future soil and water conservation policy for America, concluded McCracken. 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