National Snow Survey & Water
Supply Forecasting Program

STATUS: This program is currently administered by USDA's Natural Resources
Conservation Service. A proposal has been made to either eliminate this program
entirely or transfer it to a non-federal agency. Snow survey and streamflow
forecasting data is essential for good management of water for farmers, ranchers,
and other water managers. It is also critical to management of reservoirs.

POLICY: The Natural Resources Conservation Senrice has been very effective in
handling and improving operations of the snow survey program and has been
able to correlate information among the western states. We believe the program
must be continued and can be best administered by NRCS.

IMPLEMENTATION: We urge that Congress provide adequate funding to
enable continuation of the program within the NRCS and installation, operation
and maintenance of Snotel. Formal input on this matter will be submitted to
USDA. Locally, we are sponsoring a SNOTEL site in the Inter-Basin. This is a
multiple use resource by all entities.