"Section 6 of Public Law 95-192, the Soil and water resources conservation act of 1977..., requires the Secretary of Agricultre to develop a national soil and water conservation program to guide the Department's future conservation activities on the Nation's private and other nonfederal lands. This document, prepared in response to the Act, is based on an appraisal of existing resource conditions and trends and projected resource needs. It discusses the status of soil, water, and related resources; identifies resource problem areas; analyzes the effectiveness of existing conservation programs; establishes objectives for a national soil and water conservation program; develops alternative programs for meeting these objectives; assesses environmental impacts that would result from implementing the alternative soil and water conservation program; and presents the procedures under which the new programs would be evaluated."--p. iii.