Arizona republican., 1900-07-14
AN ARRAY OF FACTS
Stock Grazing on the Forest
 Reserves
S. F. Webb Makes Detailed Report of Investigation of Existing Con ditions in the Area of the Salt River Water Shed.

| Al lHc tune MCSSrS. OTl1tOfd. BlnchOt
 and F. V. CoviIle were sent out by the
 interior department to investigate the i reserves to determine the advisability ] of restricting or prohibiting grazing upon them. MT. s. F. Webb and c. E. i Bunch were delegated by the Salt i River Valley Water Supply Protective ! association to accompany them. The 1 report of the association's agents Is made public as follows:
 Gentlemen: Acting under your di-
 rections, in company with Prof. E. c. Bunch, on May 24th I left this city for 1 Wfnslow, Arizona. where on May 18th
 we accompanied the. representatives of ! the department of agriculture, Mir. Gif- : ford Pinchot,, forester, and F. V. Co., Vile, botanist, in a tour of the Black
 Mesa forest reserve in order to observe what effect the grazing of stock thereon
 was having on the water supply of this
 valley; also on the growth of the young 1 forest trees.
 From Winslow we cana southwest ! through the Sunset pass to the Bly i sheep range, about thirty miles from starting point, and then to the range ! north part, the first serious damage to
 young pines from grazing was observed. 1 The trees were eaKen and tramped quite
 badly. No young trees were coming up around the ranges where one would | expect to find them.
 In order to find out the character of | the seeds an examination was made. and twenty-one seeds to the square foot were found. Out of fifty-eight of these , seeds thirty-seven Were pronounced fertile and no growth appearing. the i tramping of the area by stock seeking
 shade and windbreaks to some extent
 can account for the non-appearance of young trees. Countless numbers of sheep annually pass along this portion i of the reserve in their journeys from | the summ5r ranges to the lower re- gions around the Verde and Salt rivers 1 in the fall, and returning in the spring. | In fact two points alone are available
 for such trips-one from Ramer's can- | yon on the east to Lake No. l. a dis | tance of fifteen miles west, and the 1 other from the Strawberry to Beaver
 creek on the west. The remaining DOT | tion of the reserve is protected by a ! high or deep precipice from fifteen hun ! dred to two thousand feet in extent, and
 is not paSSable for stock. This rim i rock runs from Ramer's canyon on the l cast to Fossil creek on the west a DOT l ton of it extending along on the upper | part of the Verde valley. Pines are the dominating trees: a few scattering frs and oaks abound; the undergrowth is | largely young pines, oaks, buck brush
 and rose vines. Sheep eat the young 1 pines, cattle eat the oaks, and sheep
 the roses. and cattle and sheep the
 buck-bushes.
 | From Noble s range we crossed over | to Charley Hollinghead's horse ranch
 and found the young growth of pines to
 cover the country in a remarkable man.
 ner. Grass was good and but little | evil effects of over-grazing apparent. | From there to Buckhorn springs down
 on tine west of Clear creek the country
 Was tramped and badly over-grazed, no 1 young growths appearing. From that | place We crossed Clear creek onto the Mud Tanks mesa. Along it's rim the young pines were badly damaged and
 the young oaks also.
 | From the Mud Tanks to the Straw berry road. but little undergrowth of
 any kind was uninjured; from there along the rim rock eastward to Lake ! No. 1, or as marked on the maps, "PromontCry Point" very little damage has been done by grazing. From Lake No. 1 almost to Showlow the damage ! to young pines and the absolute de- strUctiOn of almost every kind of un- dergrowth, including grass, is appall- 1 ing. No sadder picture of desolation within the green area can be found than was presented by the abandoned I houses and corrals formerly occupied by cattlemen, now rotting and unused. Phoenix park. which once claimed the distinction of b5ing the best watered and finest portion of that part of the
 reserve, when we were there had no running water. Its valley had been ruined by a deep cut or wash draining it so as to render it uninhabitable.
 Around the settlement of Pinedale less damage fromI over-g grazing was seen than elsewhere between Lake No. and Showlow. Forest fires have done but little damage to that portion of the forest in recent years; however, over grazing has, along the route travelled by herds. damaged the young trees inn mea surably. The grass has been cut up and pulled up by the roots, leaving
 tn ground bare of vegetation or mulch
 of any kind, as the pine leaves blow away into the gulches. This condition
 is a serious menace to our water sup
 ply. as the run-Off from such places is
 immense, carrying as it does large amounts of debris to fill up the streams
 below. Again, the formation is almost
 entirely sandstone, with surface drain
 age northward, but no springs or streams worthy of mention flow in that
 direction except during the rainy sea
 son: in fact, during our trip the Little Colorado, which is the natural drain on the north for-stllis region, was dry
 for fifty-five miles, up from near Hol-
 brook to St. John no stream of note
 carrying water entering it, while every
 ravine on the south of the rim rock had
 running springs. Clear creek on the
 west alone having more water flowing into if than all streams that flowed