Mr. KAZEN. Thank you very much for your statement, sir. We appreciate it.

Are there any questions from the members of the subcommittee? Mr. Abourezk?

Mr. ABOU REZK. Your last statement that there are a limited number of people opposing this project; are there any of them here today? Mr. FAGERBERG. Yes, sir.

Mr. ABOUREZK. Are they going to testify?

Mr. FAGERBERG. I am sure they will.

Mr. ABOUREZK. I do not know as you could compute it in percentages, but roughly how much of the community favors the project, and how much of it opposes it, just as a rough estimate?

Mr. FAGERBERG. Well, of course, there is a good chance here for me to be made a liar real quickly. I would say less than 10 percent oppose it. Probably less than 5. I do not know. I suppose you could determine by the number of statements you get here today.

Mr. ABOUREZK. And what are the human frailties you are talking about now?

Mr. FAGERBERG. I think a lot of people lack faith in the future. They are always concerned that something bad is going to happen, you know. They take a pessimistic view of every development that comes around. I think it is normal for people to worry that something is going to happen to their own individual development if somebody else comes along and brings competition and so forth. But I think everybody has a fear of losing their own security. I think these are normal human frailties. and I think a lot of it

Mr. ABOUREZK. Those fears seem to be the basis for the opposition; is that it?

Mr. FAGERBERG. I think; I do not know. I would think some would talk about developing more lands along these lines, and some others will probably say well, they do not get enough water now, and why do their add additional land? But, I think all of these can be answered very honestly and very justly.

Mr. ABOUREZK. Thank you.

Mr. KAZEN. Mr. Roncalio?

Mr. RONCALIO. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am deeply impressed with your statement. Was this substantially the same statement that the U.S. Senate got at Senator Hansen's hearings?

Mr. FAGERBERG. Substantially the same.

Mr. RONCALIO. I think it will help us very much in getting favorable legislation in both Houses of Congress, and I am terribly grateful for it.

Mr. FAGERBERG. I also have another statement here.

Mr. KAZEN. You have what?

Mr. FAGERBERG. I also have another statement here I would like to enter into the record, and not read it.

Mr. KAZEN. Another statement, is it?

Mr. FAGERBERG. It is from Jerry W. Housel, an attorney and landowner, and also Wyoming Democratic National Committeeman. His wife's folks homesteaded on the Shoshone project, and he urges the development of the Polecat Bench, sir.

Mr. KAZEN. Without objection, it will be made a part of the record. (The statement referred to follows:)

STATEMENT OF JERRY W. HOUSEL, WYOMING DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL

COMMITTEEMAN

My name is Jerry W. Housel and I am now and for many years have been a practicing lawyer in Cody, Wyoming. I am Wyoming Democratic national committeeman, a member of the Wyoming Community College Commission, a member of the Wyoming State Investment Advisory Council, chairman of the board of directors of First State Bank, a director of the First National Bank of Meeteetse, past president of the Wyoming State Bar, past president of the Cody Club Chamber of Commerce and past commander of the American Legion Post in Cody. My wife Mary Elaine was born near Garland on the homestead of her father, O. E. Bever, who was one of the first settlers on the Garland unit of the Shoshone project. O. E. Bever served as mayor of Powell several terms and on the Wyoming Natural Resources Board. The Powell city water tower is located on Bever land in the Garland unit.

We support wholeheartedly the Polecat Bench unit of the Shoshone Irrigation Project and urge this committee and the Congress to authorize and fund its development. The Shoshone project under the Buffalo Bill Dam includes several units or divisions. The Garland, Willwood, Frannie-Deaver and Heart Mountain units previously have been developed with resulting higher and more intensive utilization of the lands in those units. This in turn substantially increased the assessed valuation of these lands for state and local tax purposes, and equally important has multiplied many times the income from those lands and income tax revenue to the United States. The development of the more than 19,200 acres in the Polecat unit creating about 80 new farm units will bring about construction of residences, barns, corrals, fences and other improvements. This land will support many more people when developed and contribute materially to reversing the exodus of local population from the rural area. Over half a million dollars will be added annually to the state, federal and local tax base and the estimated increase in business volume will be over twelve million dollars a year.

It is especially significant that the lands in this unit will be used for production of crops not in surplus in this country. The beans, sugar beets, potatoes, malting barley and similar crops that will be produced on these lands are in demand and have an immediate cash market. They will not add to the surplus crop problem.

An important element in the proposed development of this unit involves provision for additional water supply for the municipal needs of the Powell area. This includes construction of a reservoir which can also be used for recreational purposes. The stable, steady growth in the City of Powell already demands additional sources for water supply considerably beyond the capacity of the present water system. The proposed lake or reservoir will take care of this need and also provide an entirely new recreational facility for northwest Wyoming. It is especially important that the development of the Polecat Bench unit be authorized and funded at this time. The Elk Basin oil field in the eastern part of Park County has until recently been one of the largest producing fields in the State of Wyoming. The production of this field has reached its peak and reportedly will be on the decline from now on. This production has provided a large part of the tax base for the excellent educational system in Powell including Northwest Community College. This college is one of the first community colleges in the State of Wyoming and is steadily increasing in both enrollment and educational service for the youth as well as older people of northwest Wyoming. The increased value both in production and assessed base of the 19.000 some acres in this Polecat unit resulting from its development will materially assist in maintaining the fine public educational facilities in the Powell area and help replace the declining revenue from the oil fields. Thus royalties from this mineral production paid to the federal government will be returned to the area from which they came to build a permanent, stable economy for the future.

We urge this subcommittee to approve the proposed development of the Polecat Bench unit of the Shoshone project and assist in having this project authorized and funded by the full committee and the House of Representatives, hopefully before the present session of Congress recesses. This statement is predicated upon reasonable arrangement for inclusion in this project of the private lands located within its boundaries.

JERRY W. HOUSEL.

Mr. KAZEN. Mr. Casey.

Mr. CASEY. Just one question, Mr. Fagerberg. Referring to your two suggested amendments to the bill, specifically the second one having to do with 200 acres of class I equivalent

Mr. FAGERBERG. Yes, sir.

Mr. CASEY. I have no professional or technical reservations whatsoever with that suggestion of yours. I might have one or two political qualms about it. My question is, having prefaced it thusly, is your support of the Polecat Bench predicated upon the bill being amended to allow 200 acres of class I equivalent; or stated otherwise, would you withdraw your support if it were not amended that way?

Mr. FAGERBERG. Well, Mr. Casey, that is a question that has a lot of ramifications. I think this, that if we are talking about family-size farm units, we have to have something that the father and the mother, and whether it is their daughter or son who is going to stay there, and wants to stav on the farm, that unit has to be big enough so that the two can work together, and so when the father retires, the son can take over the operation. If we are talking about family-size farm units, it has to be large enough so you can perpetuate the family. I think farm units basically under the reclamation law are too small.

Mr. CASEY. Well, let me observe, if I may, Mr. Chairman, Mr. Fagerberg is justifying his amendment, and it is a defensible, technical mendment. As I said before, I personally have no problems with it. It is not a foregone conclusion that we could obtain its adoption, and I was merely seeking to find out if that amendment was a quid pro quo to his support of the program. I think that is a very serious question. Would you rather have no Polecat at all, or a Polecat under the existing law; I know your rationale for it, and I support your rationale for it, but I do think we have a crucial issue there that may be difficult to enact. I simply wanted to get your feeling on it.

Mr. RONCALIO. Could I ask a question about that, Mr. Chairman? Mr. KAZEN. Mr. Roncalio.

Mr. RONCALJO. If the project were to be 200 acres class 1 equivalent, how many family units would that be, how many less than 80?

Mr. FAGERBERG. It would still be 80.

Mr. RONCALIO. Well, then, there is not a great deal of difference, is there, between the bill as now before us and

Mr. FAGERBERG. I think the weighted average, Congressman, is 248 acres per unit.

Mr. RONCALIO. Does that not come to about 18,200?

I am not sure if the word equivalent might have a technical meaning that I am not familiar with.

Mr. FAGERBERG. What I am saying is if we are going to put people out on the land, let us give them enough land to that they can make a living and so that they can repay instead of just existing. We started out on the Shoshone project on the Garland division with 40 acres, and then they got smarter and decided that was not enough, and then went to 80, and then to 100, and at the last opening of Heart Mountain it was an average of about 115 acres. But, now the farmers are getting, owning two units to make economic operations possible because of the cost of machinery, and prices, and agricultural parities ratio, which is down around 75 percent.

Mr. KAZEN. Thank you very much.

The Chair will declare a 5-minute recess and give everybody a chance to stretch, and we will start promptly again in 5 minutes because we still have quite a number of witnesses.

(Short recess.)

Mr. KAZEN. The subcommittee will be in order.

The next witness is Mr. Clarence O. Reed, of the Willwood Irrigation District. Come around, sir.

Now, ladies and gentlemen, we still have quite a few people to hear from, so the Chair will again ask you to be as brief as possible. If you have a statement, and if you will not duplicate what has already been testified to this morning, we would appreciate it if you would summarize your statement.

Mr. Reed, you may proceed, sir.

STATEMENT OF CLARENCE O. REED, MEMBER, WILLWOOD
IRRIGATION DISTRICT, POWELL, WYO.

Mr. REED. Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, my name is Clarence O. Reed. I am a farmer on the Willwood irrigation project and a member of the Willwood Irrigation Board.

My wife and I have farmed continuously in the Powell community for the past 21 years, having bought a farm consisting of two original 80-acre farm units. Since that time, we have doubled the acreage that we operate, plus diversifying to include cattle along with the row crop farming. This doubling of size was accomplished by renting one additional farm unit, and buying another one. This farm operation is operated by the entire family with only seasonal additional help. Our family is made up of one daughter, 16, and two sons, 17 and 20. The 20-year-old has worked off the farm for the past 11 years.

This information is given strictly to emphasize the fact of how fast the size of economical family operations are increasing. For at least the past 3 years we have tried to find additional farmland to either rent or buy in order to provide an opportunity for the boys to farm, but there obviously are just too many other families with the same thinking as ours.

We feel that implementing the proposed Polecat Bench project is vital to this area. We certainly need the additional farmland for many obvious reasons.

The principal agriculture production in this area is sugar beets, malting barley, dry edible beans, and a variety of grain and forage, all entirely utilized through livestock production and fattening. I think we can readily agree that all of this agricultural production enjoys a healthy demand.

I have driven by auto, as well as flown over the proposed project, and certainly feel that its potential productivity is well founded by the Bureau of Reclamation soil, topography and productivity test.

Thank you.

Mr. KAZEN. Thank you, Mr. Reed, for your statement. Where is the Willwood irrigation project on the map? Would you point it out to us. please?

Mr. GIBBS. It is the bottom piece to the right.

Mr. RONCALIO. Under the town of Lovell? In the township south of Lovell?

Mr. KAZEN. How many acres are in that entire irrigation district? Mr. REED. Just something over 10,000.

Mr. KAZEN. How many others are there, do you know?

Mr. REED. I hesitate to name a figure without giving it previous thought.

Mr. KAZEN. Well, if you do not know

Mr. REED. Some 60 farm units operating now, I would say.

Mr. KAZEN. All right. Thank you very much, sir.

Any questions from the subcommittee?

Mr. RONCALIO. No, no questions.

Mr. KAZEN. Any questions? Mr. Abourezk?
Mr. ABOUREZK. No.

Mr. CASEY. No questions.

Mr. KAZEN. Thank you very much, sir.

Our next witness is Mr. Paul Horel, Director, Area 3 Soil Conservation Service. Big Horn District.

Could we have Mr. Hurick on tap. On deck, rather, not on tap. On deck.

You may proceed, sir.

STATEMENT OF PAUL HOREL, DIRECTOR, AREA 3 SOIL

CONSERVATION SERVICE, BIG HORN DISTRICT

Mr. HOREL. Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, I am Paul Horel, Alternate Director, for the nine conservation districts of the Big Horn Basin, and my testimony is presented on behalf of the State Association of Conservation Districts which represents the 39 conservation districts in the State of Wyoming, and 6,395 cooperating landowners.

The State Association of Conservation Districts wholeheartedly supports and endorses the legislation which will authorize the Polecat Bench project, consisting of 19.200 acres of irrigable cropland.

The local conservation districts will be able to supply information on proper conservation practices and furnish technical assistance from the Soil Conservation Service, USDA, when requested, for proper agricultural development of these lands, once the project has been approved.

The conservation district supervisors and the farmer-rancher cooperators in the area recognize the importance of developing these lands for agriculture with the thought in mind of keeping some of the younger people in the area to operate these units and become stable citizens in the community.

The lands proposed are suitable for row cropping and hay. With proper soil and water conservation practices these irrigated lands can and will become a definite asset to the Big Horn Basin and the State of Wyoming.

The Wyoming State Assocation of Conservation districts respectfully requests that your subcommittee react favorably to the authorization and that construction be initiated at the earliest possible time.

I appreciate the opportunity to present these views in behalf of the conservation districts in Wyoming.