The RCA program: Blue smoke and mirrors

Excerpt

THE 1981 Resources Conservation Act program report, long anticipated in the conservation community, apparently is creating as much consternation as satisfaction. It is a mixed bag to be sure. To its credit, there is the fact that it exists. That would be an easy virtue to overlook as people concentrate on the details contained in over 100 pages of fairly concise writing. But that virtue should not be passed by lightly.

The forces in Washington opposing the production of any new proposal for improving the nation's soil and water conservation effort were formidable. Only the diligence of Secretary of Agriculture John Block, his top staff, concerned members of Congress, and influential governors gave the effort the kind of political impetus needed to bring a program proposal into being. Had it not been for this kind of political support, the program draft would have languished in USDA, bouncing between the staff level and the secretary's office until it died.

The RCA program must be recognized for what it is—a political document. It has little if any analytic linkage to the RCA appraisal, for there are precious few linkages that can be made. The appraisal (published …