contouring will also prevents erosion which is even worse than going since it peels the top soil from a field in such small layers that until all your topsoil is gone you don't realize what's happening man's good friend but like water it can also be of their full enemy the tornado that hit lima ohio did a lot of damage but this type of damage can be repaired the wind damage being done here cannot be repaired but the topsoil being blown from these fields cannot be replaced a windbreak will slow down wind and reduce wind damage and fields can be still further protected against both wind and water damage by cover crops like winter rye or crimson clover so the pattern of america changes in rolling country squares and oblongs give way to curve strips and the landscape takes on a new streamlined building not so long ago a man could clear a piece of land ruin it by bad soil practices and move onto a new piece of land but now there is no new land save that reclaimed by irrigation the future welfare of our nation depends upon the productivity of our land so today we must manage by all means to maintain the fertility of our to when the white men came to america they found that continent covered with wildlife a man with a gun seldom one hungry sent me for food and hides for clothing were there for the taking later when ammunition was cheap some men hunted for sport while others made hunting a profession tremendous numbers of birds and animals were killed by these and as the settlers cut them plowed and drained the land to raise more and more grain that their years of wildlife habitat were destroyed and grizzly bear and most are now seldom seen except in our national parks bison and antelope cannot exist without extensive grasslands waterfowl cannot live without marshes and upland game birds cannot survive where farming has eliminated the hedge rows and weed patch it so although the refuges provide sanctuary for birds and animals they are all the more valuable because they preserve thousands of acres of habitat the recreational value of our wildlife is and norman every year millions of americans enjoy the exercise and relaxation and excitement that come from hunting while millions more enjoy just watching birds and animal than there is the purely dollar and cents value of wildlife particularly of our birds the upland game birds and the pretty little song birds that nest close to our houses and our such bundle watch are tremendously valuable because of the insects they describe they are true guardians of our crops and their loss would be a real catastrophe birds and animals are indeed deserving of all the effort we can put into their conservation one of this continent's most valuable resources was water clean pure water to serve man in a multitude of ways water for himself and his animals to drink water for transportation water for power and industry water for irrigation water for fish and wildlife and water for recreation save in a few arid regions we had so much water that shortages seemed impossible clean usable water was something we just took for granted up in the hills of new england a river is born rainwater soaked up by soil well covered with trees and shrubs and decaying leaves comes to the surface and a tiny brook starts toward the sea it is cool and  as it goes singing toward the sea it is water that a man can drink water in which fish can live than kids can swim best of all perhaps it is the kind of water by which a father can sit with his son and dream of the theatres but after a while the water meets a mill and a dam here it is still pure and clean but it is not pure and clean below the mail in just a few hundred yards it loses all its purity in just a few hundred yards it stops singing for into it the men of the mills pour industrial waste and the women of the city bring garbage and  refuse no one should be allowed to do this to a river or a river ought to belong to the people and be for their enjoyment but in many parts of the country once lovely streams are being turned into stinking open sewers not so long ago this country of ours was covered with slews and marshes that served as reservoirs to hold water on the land and keep water tables high and wells  but people became obsessed with the drainage craze and dug miles and miles of that to little ditches and big ditch it to hurry the water toward the sea because of ill planned drainage marshes that were unwisely drain every time a marsh is drained and water is hurried to the nearest river we increase the likelihood of downstream floods so we spend millions and millions of dollars to build higher and higher levels and bigger and bigger day in year after year we pour more and more money into these colossal structures and year after year the snows melt the rainfall and the floods grow wor maybe our whole flood control program needs overhauling maybe we are wasting money maybe the place to control floods is where they start high up on the stream up or cutting or burning have strip the hills of the forest cover that one soaked up rainfall and check the rush of water from cloudburst or fast melting snow we can make the trees grow again come to our farming can set up hundreds and hundreds of tiny but effective dams to hold back the runoff and keep the soil where it belongs and we can put an end to ill advised drainage so that water will stay where it is most needed power up on the watershed we can build countless small dam for  fish and wildlife for recreation and to trap floodwaters in the silt that is filling our reservoirs so fast that even our largest dams will be useless in an amazingly short time perhaps better land management and many small upstream dams would do more to stop floods than big expensive downstream dans perhaps we need less blood control and more blood prevention in any program of blood prevention our national forests play a large part as of today we have one hundred and fifty three national forests with a total area of a hundred and eighty million protection of the important watershed since the forester safeguard against over cutting and overgrazing the water that falls in them does not run off with a rush to add to flood crests instead it is absorbed by the trees and grasses that cover these watersheds is given up slowly as clean and polluted water that for human use and enjoy grazing is allowed under permits granted by the forest service and today over a million head of cattle and three million sheep grazing our national forests of course the forests preserve large areas of wilderness and not save from destruction habitats suitable for fur bears and such big game animals as bare bones and there is excellent big game hunting in the national forests and also splendid fishing and beautiful lakes and streams and in some of our national forests the scenery is truly magnificent indeed the scenery is so magnificent that each year more and more americans are vacationing in the national forests recently in a single year thirty million persons use the forests for recreation this is almost as many as use the national parks our first national park was a stablished in eighteen seventy two when congress created yellowstone national park as a pleasuring ground for the benefit and enjoyment of the people and thus preserved for posterity such wonders as old faithful and yellowstone fall within the national parks and those smaller areas called national monuments grazing and lumbering are not allowed but within them outstandingly beautiful and unusual areas of primeval america are preserved for all the there are the mountain parks like glacier and there are the canyon parks such as grand canyon and zion and br every park is different and everyone is enjoyed by thousands of city were a people who throng to the parks on their holiday many just drive around and look at the scenery and at the wildlife that can often be seen right from the most of these visitors enjoy the company of their fellow but some sick solitude and spend their days far back in the vast wilderness area some visitors ride the trail others fish while still other scaled the highest and most difficult mountain peaks so many people get pleasure out of our national parks but these areas must always be safeguarded against men who try to cut their timber dam their rivers or otherwise to spoil them for the benefit of a selfish fiel yes bill this is your country your american heritage it belongs to you and to millions like you we have built a truly great and mighty nation  earth we have wasted the resources that are the foundation of our greatness but happily we are beginning to realize how wastefully have been and thanks to the machines that make us a great mechanized nation we can repair some of the damage we have done to our land just think though we may soon have two hundred million persons to buy the clothes on her but using the wisdom and knowledge born not only of our successes but also of our mistakes we can continue to be the most blessed of all nations the spirit of conservation our abroad in our land can assure you my son and other americans like you a life of freedom and prosperity and happiness