STATUS OF PROGRAM

The Bureau of Land Management has about 330 structures throughout the Western United States and Alaska which are required for storage of supplies and protection of equipment used in its varied field programs, and housing for employees at isolated field stations in Alaska. Such supplies as seed for use in soil conservation activities and for reforestation and materials for fencing, water development and other range improvements are purchased and stored for issuance to projects as required. Equipment for soil and moisture and range improvement work such as brushland plows, rangeland drills, oil sprayers and trucks and tankers for fire suppression must be protected from weather and theft. These facilities are generally of light construction which require considerable annual maintenance to keep them in serviceable condition. Many were acquired during the CCC program.

This estimate of $25,000 reactivates the activity for maintenance of access roads formerly applied only to the O. & C. road system. Recently completed roads in forest and range districts must be maintained to provide ready access for administrative purposes as well as use by the public; but this work will be done generally by licensees or permittees.

The estimate of $918,000 is an increase of $118,000 consisting of(1) An increase of $9,000 to bring increased pay costs to a full-year basis. (2) An increase of $109,000 for range seeding of an additional 6,500 acres and chemical weed control of an additional 10,000 acres in an intensified control program directed especially at areas of halogeton and Medusa rye infestation.

Need for increase.-Despite efforts to date in halogeton control, the total acreage of noxious halogeton infestation has not been reduced appreciably. New areas of infestation are continually being identified through range surveys and inspections. Similarly Medusa rye is spreading and threatens additional acreages in Idaho, Oregon, and California. Discovery of new areas of infestation by these noxious and poisonous weeds emphasizes the need to intensify efforts to control them.

Program accomplishments in fiscal year 1960 and program goals for fiscal year 1961 and 1962 are listed below.

We have been advised of instances in several of our offices of voluntary uncompensated overtime work being performed by our people in order to keep abreast with the workload. In order to provide adequate service in the housekeeping functions of personnel administration, administrative services, and budget and finance, increased staffing is essential. Expansion of the internal audit staff also is necessary to permit adequate coverage which now is not possible.

The Bureau's accounting equipment has been in use for many years and the stage has been reached where the machines require constant maintenance. Breakdowns have been frequent and costly in terms of disruption of current work volume resulting in reporting delays. Also, the machines now are obsolete and do not have the capacity or facilities to provide the information required for management.

Plan of work. With increased staffing provided for in the estimates, accounting staffs in the Washington and the area offices will be able to handle accounting workload, provide management with improved financial controls and reports, and followup promptly on findings and recommendations of audit reports by the General Accounting Office and the Bureau's internal audit staff. In this regard, the internal audit staff will be strengthened providing for wider and more comprehensive coverage. Adequate service will be furnished by personnel management and property management staffs so that these functions can keep pace with expansion of technical programs. New accounting machines are needed which have facilities to enable us to mechanize payroll and billing processes and to move into a cost accounting system. With the new equipment and additional personnel, we anticipate that by the end of fiscal year 1962 we will be ready to convert to a cost accounting system throughout the Bureau.

Common services provided to the other Bureau appropriations by the general administration activity will continue to be charged to the benefiting appropriations at the rate of 5 percent.

STATUS OF PROGRAM

The general administration activity includes executive direction and management functions of the Bureau. The objective of this activity is to facilitate the work of the offices and field teams in their performance of the various programs of the Bureau. Organizationally, this activity includes the offices of the Director and the area administrators and staffs for personnel administration, budget and finance, management improvement, information, and administrative services. The better staffing of this activity and the new accounting equipment will make it possible to provide more adequate administrative support for the programs of the Bureau. These measures also will serve as major steps toward the conversion to a cost accounting system for the Bureau by the end of fiscal year 1962. By the end of fiscal year 1963, after a year's experience in operating under the cost system, we would be in a position to present a supportable cost-based budget for fiscal year 1965.

STATEMENT BY KARL LANDSTROM, DIRECTOR, BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT

Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, I appreciate this opportunity to appear before you to discuss the programs and problems of the Bureau of Land Management and to present a request for funds for the fiscal year 1962.

The Bureau of Land Management acts for the Secretary of the Interior as custodian of over 477 million acres of public lands including those in Alaska. These lands are rich in natural resources and they make a significant contribution to the economy of the Nation. We also transfer title to lands properly opened to entry where disposition will bring about a higher use. In addition, the Bureau has responsibility for mineral resources on the Outer Continental Shelf, lands under the jurisdiction of other Federal agencies, and private lands where mineral rights have been reserved to the United States.

It is the responsibility of the Secretary of the Interior to administer these resources so that widest use may be made of them while at the same time protecting them for future benefit to the country. To illustrate the variety of uses, I might state that forage for over 11.5 million head of livestock and game animals is available for part of their annual requirements. Approximately 1.2 billion board feet of timber and other forest and woodland products will be made available to western markets in 1962. The public domain also is the source of a substantial part of the Nation's annual output of petroleum products and other minerals. At the same time needs for cooperative development and management of recreation areas on public domain lands are increasing steadily.

The budget estimates for 1962, as amended, will permit acceleration of the Bureau's programs in furtherance of the objectives for conservation, protection, and development of the public lands and their resources which were stated in President Kennedy's message to the Congress on natural resources.

As presented in the amended budget submitted by the President, the estimate for 1962 for the appropriation "Management of lands and resources" is $33 million, representing a net increase of $4,629,000 over the estimated amount appropriated for 1961, including the supplemental appropriation to partially meet increased pay costs. Adjustments required to reflect increased pay costs on a full-year basis amounting to $340,000 and the elimination of the emergency fire rehabilitation supplemental appropriation of $1,425,000 from the 1961 base results in a total increase of $5,714,000 for the regular operating programs.

The moratorium on certain types of lands cases, which was announced February 14, will result in a reduction in incoming lands cases during 1961 and 1962. The cleanup of existing backlogs of cases during the moratorium requires adequate funds. Furthermore, the volume of minerals applications continues to increase.

Plan of work.—Emphasis will continue to be placed principally on the control and eradication of halogeton, Medusa rye, and host plants of the beet leafhopper which is the carrier of the curly top virus, a serious menace to the bean industry. Small amounts will be allocated for the control of other noxious and poisonous ranze weeds and in cooperating on coordinated programs to control agricultural weeds on Bureau lands where they are sources of reinfestation to adjacent croplands.

Seeding of the infested halogeton areas to crested wheatgrass has proved very successful and will continue to be the principal method of treatment. Complementary practices such as protective fencing, pitting, and furrowing, and so forth, will continue at an accelerated rate. Control of the beet leafhopper in the Snake River Valley of Idaho will continue at the 1961 fiscal year level of operations.

Due to the temporary nature of chemical control treatment, emphasis will be directed to natural and artificial revegetation practices which promise a long-term containment of undesirable plant species. Chemical control will be limited to spot treatment on the perimeters of large infestations and temporary control in areas where native vegetation will respond and compete with the weeds and give lasting effects.

In cooperation with Agricultural Research Service, State experiment stations, and others, increased efforts will be made in the search for improved methods of control and in attaining the cooperation of range users for better management practices in connection with Medusa rye infested areas.

The range users contribute toward the total control program to the extent of about 10 percent of the total expenditures.

STATUS OF PROGRAM

The weed control program is authorized by the Taylor Grazing Act and the Halogeton Glomeratus Control Act. In carrying out the responsibilities of the

Bureau this program has four primary objectives

To arrest the invasion of new weed species to public domain lands which are poisonous or mechanically injurious to domestic livestock or which threaten the agricultural economy of an area.

To complement the grazing administration and fire prevention programs through development of additional available forage more resistant to fire and which is successfully competitive to invasion by undesirable weed species. Implement a combination of conservation practices to improve range management while reducing livestock losses and danger of new infestations.

Continue the cooperative study and research being carried on with several universities and agricultural experiment stations, which has contributed greatly to increased knowledge of weed species and improved control measures. Approximately 8,400,000 acres of public domain lands in eight Western States are infested with halogeton. The heaviest infestations are in a tristate area of northwestern Utah, northeastern Nevada, and south-central Idaho. The major part of the program is conducted in these States. Infestations total about 50,000 acres in Wyoming, while infested areas in California, Colorado, Montana, and Oregon are relatively smaller.

The control program has been successful to the extent that the vegetal cover of native and introduced grasses has been improved by management and seeding to the point that halogeton plants have been crowded out or prevented from encroaching. However, the total acreage of halogeton infestation has not been reduced appreciably. New areas of infestation are continually being identified through range surveys and inspections. Livestock losses from halogeton are still serious in many locations, and the control program is aimed at minimizing these losses through the restoration of depleted ranges.

The bean industry which contributes substantially to the agricultural economy of south-central Idaho has suffered extensive losses in recent years due to the curly top virus, carried by the beet leafhopper. Losses in excess of $2 million annually have been reported. The beet leafhopper spends part of its life cycle on annual plants found on desert and uncultivated areas which have been burned, overgrazed or otherwise distrubed. The objective of the beet leafhopper program is to replace the host plants of this insect with perennial grasses.

The control program was launched in fiscal year 1959 and results to date have been highly satisfactory. Much remains to be done, however, to restore depleted Federal lands in the beet leafhopper source area. The following tabulation serves to show the accomplishments to date, and in a general way the probable scope of the work yet to be accomplished.

Medusa rye has now spread over 742,000 acres in Idaho and Oregon and threatens an additional 6 million acres of annual cheatgrass ranges in Idaho, Oregon, and California. This plant is unpalatable and mechanically injurious to livestock. Being very high in silicon content, the plant produces an excess accumulation of litter which prevents germination and growth of competing forage plants and becomes a serious fire hazard.

Four mountain ranges in central Nevada contain larkspur infestations totaling 20,000 acres. Due to serious livestock losses, these ranges are not being grazed at the present time. Because of steep terrain and high labor costs, control of this plant will be very limited.

The following table compares program accomplishments through fiscal year 1960 with the inventory of long-term requirements for all phases of the weed control program.

The estimate of $1,877,000 is an increase of $226,000 consisting of— (1) An increase of $5,000 to bring increased pay costs to a full year basis; (2) An increase of $121,000 to provide adequate staffing for personnel administration, administrative services and budget, accounting and auditing functions; and

(3) An increase of $100,000 for the purchase of accounting machines to replace our present equipment.

Need for increase.-Appropriations to the Bureau of Land Management for general administration have not kept pace with the expanding management of lands and resources programs over the years. During the past 10 years, 1951 through 1960, the Bureau's operating appropriation has increased in size about 4 times while the general administration activity has increased about 11⁄2 times. In 1951 general administration amounted to 14.2 percent of the total operating appropriation and by 1960 the ratio was down to 5.5 percent.

The expansion of operating programs has increased the volume of personnel actions, purchase orders for equipment and supplies, maintenance of records of accountability for Bureau property and have added to the burden of accounting processes required to provide the records and reports necessary for management.