SOIL CONSERVATION
From "The Alaska Fame
A vo" cer'rable piece of legislation vras
•■-assed the T8.th Session of the Alaska
Le£islaiure. This Act>, H.B. No. 85 is
known nr.'.the_ Soil Conservation District 1
La\v. Section 3^ .setting forth the nurpose,
read'' ar follows:
There is hereby created, as a public body
cor orate and politic, the Soil Conserva
- -t ion District of Ala-ska, comprising the ,
-Area of the Territory, to jprOvid.fe a means'
for this jbrderly 4eVe]jopmertt of; lands,for !
guidlm settlement,'and for conserving
soil and soil resources and controlling
and preventing; .s>o il erb'eion. in the Terri-'
tory. • l
To carry out the purpose, a Soil Conserva-,
tion Fcdrd consisting of 'three bona fide
farmers* has, been, appointed. ..These to !
serve vatLout'compensation, .ihfe'members |
are: London F. ib.nk of Fairbanks, Harold .
L. Tvena and Max SherrQ.d of Palmer,
; ■ , i ‘ •! 1
These r:en were appointed'by the Scal'd o f !
Administration at Juneau, upon reccrimen- I
dation'by the Conservation Advisory Com- i
mittec, consisting of the following: Gener-4
al Nana er of the Alaska Rural Rehabilita-j
tion Cyoperation, the Regional Forester
of the United States'Forest Service, the .
Area ‘Supervisor for Alaska of the United
State" Farmers* Home Demonstration, the i
Director'of the Agricultural Experiment
Stations, the Director of Extension Ser
vice o.; the University of Alaska, and the:
Territorial Commissioner of Agriculture.- 1
, i . • * ■
'Section 5, states, jthepSoil 1 Conservation
'Board' shall be the igov^rniAg body of the I
district and shall have the following
powers. Stated briefly they include:
To co. time land surveys, make technical ,
guidance and. other assistance available
to pot-tiers' of new land* Carry out neaa- i
uros co carry oA soil conservation and
erosion control, to create sub-districts- j
and to accept contributions. This last |
named clause is particularly significant j
because the board is thereby instructed
and erii owered to accept help’from the
Federal Conservation Service. Particular
ly the Office located at Portland,Oregon,
head of the fits Pestcrn States, Hawaii
and nor /l as lea.
TT.T. ".Bite fro?, the Portland Office made
a ’brief visit to Aladca during September
and 'ceiled at this Office or.'thS i9th.
(Comissioner of Agriculture,Fairbanks)
)Ie outlined the functions of soil con
servation and the readiness of the Fed
eral Iffice to assist in any way possible
in establidling a, practice of Soil Con
servation m Alaska. The initiative for
any such work rests with the Territorial
Board of the three above named*
Although Alaska is comparitively now in
agricultural practice, it is not too soon
Continued in next column
SOIL
C ONSBHVATION Cont.
r
to caris'ider ways and moans to conserve
and maintain .soil" fertility. A splendid
article by Hugh H. Bennett, Chief U.S.D.A.
Soil Conservation Service,a ppeared in'the
July 1947'issue'of Science Illustrated.
In this article, Dr, Bennett says that
three hillion tons of so il in United States
alone arc being washed or blown away an
nually. That every year the population
of the earth is increasing by twenty mil
lion. Rirthermore, the world is estimated
to have only about four billion acres 6f
arable land now available (Dr. Bennett,for
some reason has omitted to include the
approximately fvro million, aches of faim
land in Alaska.) Also, that nutritionists
estimate that it takes two. and one-rhalf
acres of reasonably good land to h-Ovide
a minimum adecuate diet for a person,
A little consideration of the^e and other
figures which Dr. ’ennett presents indi
cate very plainly that, the world cannot
go on indefinitely, i&creasing it3 popu
lation and at the same tipie wasting the
good earth in such.dVdevastating manner
as the present. 3o,’“wd are glad a moans
has, been created by the last legislature
whereby soil conservation'work can be
inaugurated and emphasised in'the mainte
nance of soil fertility. Ue have to think
not only of ourselves but of the genera
tions to eome„
NEW DAILY FOR ANCHORAGE
The Anchorage '"eekly News has announced
that they plan to swing into the field a3
a Daily Newspaper after January 1,1943.
Following -the annual meeting of the Board
of Diroctbbrs of the Northern Publishing
Co.,Inc. this change was decided.
Norman C. Brown, editor of the weekly,will
remain as editor of the new daily*'New
nanbers will be added to the news, adver
tising, circulation and mechanical depart
ments. Present quarters at Third Avenue
and F Street are to be enlarged to accom
modate extra equipment needed for the lar
ger paper.
The new paper will be enlarged from its
present table idj £02111 to a .standard eight
column format with a minimum of eight
pages.
The scope of the news coverage will also
be increased to include latest world hap
penings in addition to the full local cov
erage which will be given-closest possible
attention.
The publishers of the News said that they
were influenced,to enter vhe daily field
both because of. repeated requests from
various business people and advertisers
and because of the belief that Anc?orage
has a most optdmistia future.
From the Anchorage News.