The Meeker herald., 1899-08-05
Colonel Mays Views.

Soiohel MAY NlcWSs
Colonel W. Il. S. May is in Salt Lake
City arranging with the sheepmen OF
eastern Utah for the pasturing, pro rata
and not to exceed 200, 600 head. of their
stock on the Unitah reservation this
summer, in accordance with Instructions
from the interior department at Wash-
ington. In conversation with Salt
Lake Herald reporter, the colonel SAID
it was not his action, nor by his order
that the Uintah reservation had been
closed tolsheep owners.
1.-The government has forbid the
pasturage of sheep on forest reserves IN
every Western state, except the states
of Oregon and Washington" said he,
land holds that the sheep are particular
ly destructive to any arid section, when
permitted to Craze unrestricted on forest
lands. The latter are absolutely neceS
sary to the insurance Of water supply.
The trees, the luxuriaut undergrowtha
aud the grasses render the soil moist,
spongy and porous, and receptive TO a
high degree, and it is to this receptive
quality that it is enabled to receive the
rainfalls, and the melting SHOWS and re-
tain them in the natural reservoirs OF
the ground. The water of reservoirs
feed the thousands of springs and hun
dreds of small rivulets that in turn form
the water courses from which the water
is obtained for irrigatiug farms, ranches
and orchards.
Now, then, it is known fact that
sheep when allowed to range over these
woodlands, devour entirely The grass
and other luxuriant growth. This, in
turn. causes the earth to lose its natural
moisture and retain less of the rainfall
and snow and results in decreased
water supply. Besides the destruction
of the vegetation, the constant patter-
ing of the hoofs of the sheep over the
denuied ground beats it down and
hardens it until it becomes almost ada
mantean, in its character, and the water
will not soak through, but forms
freshets and washouts, and instead OF
entering the natural underground
storage places rushes in a torrent over
the surface to the streams and floods
everything before it. Afterward the
streams dry up, because there is nothing
to teed them, and the water supply is
ruined.
"rhis is very serious question and
the future must be looked out for, as
was the case in Germany. The forests
of that country had been almost de-
stroyed, and had to be restored, and
TODAY there are the most rigid forestry
laws there of any nation on earth.
lit is stated that was the cause OF
closing the reservations to the sheep
owners. but the statement is not true.
AS said before, it was simply in ac-
cordance with the existing law. In my
report to the secretary of the interior /
stated that the sheep and wool industry
was of vast Importance to Utah and was
one of its principal sources of produc-
tion. and that the closing Of the reser-
vation to them would be of consider
able hardship. Yet if it were permitted
to allow the 100000 to 100000 head of
sheep to continue to be pastured there
it would result in great destruction to
the sources of water supply. l stated
that while limited number properly
restricted might not be of any serious
consequence, the larger number was
bound to cause irIeparable injury.
II coincide fully with the government
that sheep are destructive to our forests,
and when my woolgrowing friends
argue with me that they are not, l smile
and tell them that they know better
than that, and it is pure self-interest
that causes them to assume that atti-