Williams news., 1904-12-24
GRAZING IN THE
 FOREST RESERVES


 its meeting in January next will devote one days's session to con- sideration of the relation of the public forest lands to grazing. Only those who thoroughly understand conditions in the west can appre- ciate how important is the ques- ton of grazing in connection with the welfare of the forests. Grazing is the principal industry of nearly one-half of the United States. The arid region of the country in cludes about two-fifths of it's entire area, from about the middle of the continent westerly nearly to the Pacific ocean, and the greater part of this region is naturally grazing land, mainly open, but much of it, particularly in the more noun tainous parts, forested or partly forested The forage varies from the scanty vegetation of the deserts to the thick turf of the mountain parks and the varied growth of herbage and young trees found in the interior of the forest. During the excessive heat of summer it is customary to drive the cattle and and sheep up into the forests, where the air is cooler and the pasture better. This means that the young growth is trampled and browsed and the spongy forest soil packed or cut by hoofs, so that floods and serious soil erosion often follow, while the prospects of forest repro duction are greatly endangered. Hence it is often necessary to ex- clude both sheep and cattle, though the regulations are generally more rigid against sheep, which do the worst damage:
 That the land best suited to graz ing should be given over to it is self-evident. But neither the pub lie domain nor the forests should be overgra zed. Forests are essen, tial to irrigation plans for reclaim ing arid lands. The fact that sheep successfully graze upon areas partly or wholly inaccessible to cattle has led sheepmen into high mountains and about the headwaters of streams where speedy and great damage can be done the protective influence of the forests. In addition, sheep are generally herded or concentra- ted on small areas; thus their graz ing has an intensive character pc culiarly destructive. For these req sons, and because of special local conditions, sheep are entirely ex- cluded from some forest reserves, while in others their grazing is more stringently regulated than that of cattle.
 Hitherto there has been continual conflict between the sheep and cat tie men for grazing locations, and the limitation of the claims of each in the reserves has been one of the most embarrassing and difficult questions of forest control. Happily, through a recent conference at Den yer, there has been the fullest and most amiable interchange of views in the history of the business. It is expected there will be less fric- tion between them in the future than in the past.
 That the bureau of forestry keen ly appreciates the importance of the grazing question is shown by the instructions it gives it's field force examining lands with view to forming new reserves or revising the boundaries of existing reserves. It's agents must give definite and full reports on all the following queries: Demand upon the range; to what extent the prosperity of the local residents depend upon live stock; how many stock are now using the reserve, and how dis tributed; where owned; whether stoekmen own ranches or reside in the reserve; their home residence; to what extent as summer range