Facing A Second Century of Water for the West

Remarks by Bruce I. Knight, Chief
Natural Resources Conservation Service
at the Western States Water Conservation Roundtable
Boise, ID

August 28, 2002

Good morning. It is a pleasure to be here and to share the podium with Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner John W. Keys III. Congratulations to the Bureau of Reclamation on your 100th anniversary. NRCS is a much younger agency, but we look forward to celebrating our 100th anniversary, too.

It is great to be here with the members of the “Bridging the Headgate” partnership: the Bureau of Reclamation, the Western States Water Council, the National Water Resources Association, the National Association of State Conservation Agencies and the National Association of Conservation Districts. I want to thank all of you for your hard work and for your cooperation under the various agreements and Memorandums of Understanding we have in place.

I also want to thank you for your help on the new farm bill. Thanks to your efforts, and those of many other interested parties, we have a farm bill that will do great things for natural resource conservation on America’s private lands.

Together, we are making great progress on the water issues here in the West. The overall topic for this conference – “Managing Shortages in A Changing West” – is a concept private land owners and managers can relate to – word by word.

Starting with the last word – West.

The government has treated water differently in the West than in the East. Partly because there is less of it. Mostly because the United States expanded into a West where some formal water rights already existed. Traditionally, water has been very important in the West, where the land is, but not recognized as so important in the East, where the people are – or were. Today, water is important almost everywhere, so we can look to wider interest – and maybe more sympathy – as we try to solve water problems in the West.

Next – Changing

As we discuss every time water issues come up, the West is a changing place.

More people: portions of the West are among the fastest growing areas in the United States. Boise, our host city, is a good example. I hardly recognize some areas for all the growth in the past 10 years.

A wider range of activities: more people need more golf courses, more water-based recreation, more agriculture, more of everything.

More assertions of water rights. Until recently, Tribal Governments have not always claimed the maximum amount of water. Recreationists want large amounts of stored water for their use. Urban and suburban communities need more water. Wildlife areas are using more water. And agriculture always needs water.

In short, there is a lot of change in the West with regard to water use.

A changing world demands flexibility. Flexibility in water management, nutrient and pest management, and new products – agricultural and nonagricultural

Next — Shortages

The pattern of change I just described adds up to one thing – more need for water. The Department of Agriculture recognizes that demand for water is growing faster than supply and that there are growing conflicts over water allocations.

This is not just a western problem. What has been the case here in the West will increasingly become the case elsewhere. But water has always been scarce in the West. – and it seems to be more scarce right now, due to wide-spread drought. With a small percentage of land suitable for growing crops and small profit margins, reliability of water supply is one of the biggest issues out here. Farmers and ranchers in many parts of the country are suffering the effects of drought and other unfavorable conditions. We can hope that conditions will improve, but right now many farmers and ranchers are in serious trouble.

In July, Secretary Veneman authorized emergency haying of Conservation Reserve Program acreage in parts of several states around the country to provide forage for livestock and help producers in areas most severely affected by drought. The Secretary also designated up to $4 million in Emergency Conservation Program funds for several states, which are suffering their worst drought in 25 years.

Just recently, the Secretary announced $150 million in supplemental feed in Colorado, Nebraska, South Dakota, and Wyoming. Through mid-August, Secretary Veneman had designated counties in seventeen states as drought disaster areas, making farmers and ranchers in those regions immediately eligible for USDA emergency farm loans due to losses. These low-interest EM loans are available from USDA's Farm Service Agency. Local USDA offices are working hard to expedite the process and applications to help farmers when they need it most. And, of course, for many of you the most important assistance arrives in the form of federal crop insurance and noninsured crop disaster assistance.

NRCS is also assisting in helping farmers combat the long-term effects of drought. We are providing incentives for farmers and ranchers in drought states to help minimize the erosion of drought-stricken rangelands.

Funding from the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) is available to help landowners plant cover crops, use farming techniques that don’t disturb the soil, and graze cattle in ways that will preserve forage. We have also approved the use of Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program (WHIP) funds for emergency habitat needs associated with the drought.

There is one more word left in my topic for today – Managing.

Managing is the key word in the entire theme for this meeting. We can’t do much about the availability of water, population growth, or other factors beyond our control – but we can improve the management of our water resources. Part of the NRCS mission is to help farmers and ranchers and rural communities manage their water. I also know that most of you want to see programs that encourage the continued use of land for agricultural purposes. Programs that take land out of production do not meet your needs.

NRCS is here to help you manage and use water effectively, so you can stay in the agriculture business. We can help you manage water on-farm to increase production, increase irrigation efficiency, maintain water quality, and avoid falling water tables. Through snow surveys, we can predict supply, help plan storage to meet water needs, and give you the data you need to plant appropriately. In addition, we can help you and your communities capture a wider a range of benefits from the land, including wildlife, open spaces, and quality of life. Irrigation has changed the face of the West, but not just in terms of crops. Water projects have also made development possible, and they have increased wildlife habitat in many areas. We can also help you adopt practices that result in more precise delivery of water, and also of nutrients and pest control agents. Finally, and this is particularly important in the West, we can work with districts to promote cooperation in stewardship efforts at the interface between private and public lands.

Future success will depend on adapting to change, blending conservation and production, and working together. I think it is very significant that the Department of Agriculture has published a document on Food and Agriculture policy that makes for the first time that I know of a direct statement about the importance of water to agriculture policy. Please don‘t underestimate the significance of this.

As you may know, only 16% of America’s cropland is irrigated, but that land accounts for nearly half of the value of all crops sold. In the West, the quarters of the value of agricultural crops is generated by irrigated land. Nearly 80% of orchard sales come from irrigated land, as do two thirds of the sales of vegetables and potatoes.

Because agriculture accounts for nearly 80 percent of all water consumption nationally, agriculture will be part of the solution to shortage problems. The Department is looking at increased incentives and technical support for improved on-farm water management. Conservation programs will also play an important role in helping to solve water management issues. We may also see more programs to encourage development of on-farm water storage facilities to alleviate local supply challenges.

As you know, we have a new farm bill. That bill contains significantly more funding for managing the water on America’s private lands. The farm bill sets the course for all of agriculture, including conservation on private lands, for the next six years. It represents the single most significant commitment of resources toward conservation on private lands in the nation’s history -- nearly $13 billion over the life of the bill. The farm bill provides a balanced portfolio of tools for conservation, including technical assistance, cost-sharing, land retirement, and also a new stewardship incentives program.

Most significantly, the farm bill emphasizes conservation on working lands. It provides the most dramatic growth in the Environmental Quality Incentives Program. The new farm bill provides more than $5.5 billion over six years. The Ground and Surface Water Conservation initiative under EQIP includes cost-share payments, incentive payments, and loans for irrigation improvements, conversion to less water-intensive crops, and dryland farming. EQIP also has an additional $50 million to assist producers in the Klamath Basin.

Additionally, the Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program increases to $360 million over six years under the new farm bill. The Conservation Security Program will provide payments for producers who have historically practiced good stewardship on their agricultural lands and incentives for those who want to do more. In addition, land retirement programs, such as the Conservation Reserve Program and the Wetland Reserve Program, have significant increases in their acreage caps.

The new farm bill provides for several other programs to protect working farmland and ranchland, including the Farmland Protection Program and the Grasslands Reserve Program. The Farmland Protection Program will have nearly $600 million over six years. A request for proposals for $50 million in funding was recently published in the Federal Register. The new Grasslands Reserve Program will have a quarter of a billion dollars in mandatory spending to enroll up to two million acres of farmland.

In total, these programs provide us with tools to become an even stronger partner in “Bridging the Headgate.”

At the end of the day, the fundamental problem remains: water is scarce. We need to all work together to conserve this precious resource. We need accurate prediction and measurement of water supplies. We need efficient storage and delivery systems. We need to conserve and re-use water as much as possible, both on the farm and off. And we need all the negotiation and conflict resolution skills we can muster.

The issue of scarce water will not go away, but we must continue to work together to deal with it the best we can. The “Bridging the Headgate” partnership is a great example of this kind of cooperation.

Thank you.
 

Modified 11/19/02