Enterprise news-record. [volume] (Enterprise, Wallowa County, Or.) 1910-1911, 1911-02-15
NATIONAL FORESTS
GRAZING EXAMINERS
GOVERNMENT TO APPOINT MEN
OF PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE
ON RANGE.

ernment position is disclosed by the
announcement by the U. S. Civil Ser
vice commission of AN examination
which will be held February % and
"a to find three grazing examiners
for the Forest service. The positions
will pay a salary of $1,000 year at
entrance.
The announcement specifies that
the applicants must be men, at least
twenty one years old, and possessed
of at least one seasons experience
in handling range stock, together
with at least one year of technical
training in specified botanical studies
The establishment of this position
Is in line with the objects which the
Department of Agriculture has always
had i'm view in its management of
grazing on the National forests. 1t
is not merely seeking to prevent
cattle and sheep from doing damage
to forest growth and watershed con-
ditions, as they Craze on the herbage
which is yearly produced in the open
forests, parks, and high mountain
meadows within the National forests.
Range-fed stock are matter of de-
cided Importance to the American
people in these days of rising prices
for food products and diminishing g
supplies, in proportion to population,
of livestock; and therefore Secretary
Wilson intends that every acre of Ma
tional forest range shall be made to
produce as much forage as it is cap
able of doing, consistently with the
carrying out of the other purposes
for which the National forests are
maintained.
The proposal to appoint specialists
who are both thoroughly trained bot
anfsts and men of practical expert
ence in range matters indicates re-
cognition of the fact that to attain
the highest point of range product
ivity the best scientific knowledge
must be applied to the study of the
problems of forage productions and
utilization. AS stock Craze on the
range, the effect on the different
kinds of vegetation differs both with
dts palatability or unpalatability and
with it's capacity to produce seed,
its time of seeding, it's resistance to
trampling, its manner of growth, and
many other elements.
What is aimed at now is nothing
less than to find out all the things
on which depend the production OF
the largest amount of beef, mutton,
wool, and hides on a given area.
This involves learning how both to
restrict and to time the grazing
so as not to interfere with the re-
production of the most valuable ele-
ments in the forage crop, how to
prevent unnecessary loss to feed
through trampling and in other ways,
how to exterminate poisonous plants
from the range, how to prevent the
loss of forage which results from the
multiplication of prairie dogs and
gophers, whether it is practicable to
introduce new forage plants by di-
rect seeding, and many other matters.
1t is to look into such matters that
the grazing examiners are to be APP
pointed.
Besides seeking to bring about the
recuperation of depleted ranges, the
reduction of waste, and the develop
ment of all range to what may be
termed an artificial state of product
iveness through control of reproduc-
ton, accom- panied, it is hoped, by
the introduction of new forage plants,
the studies planned will aim also at
increasing the area of range avail
able. There is much natural grazing
land in the National forests which
can not be put to use, either because
the country is too rough for stock
to be driven in, because shipping ia
cllities are lacking, or because of a
lack of water. The construction of
properly located roads and driyeways
and the development of water through
the building of reservoirs or the driv-
ing of artesian wells are pert OF
the general scheme of permanent i'm
provements planned for the National
forests. To furnish the basis for COM
prehensive development of the graz
ing resources the range will be stud
led in detail, classified according to
the type of vegetation found, and map
ped by ''forties.'' The observations
made viii include notes for each for
ty acres upon the surface, soil, char
acter and density of vegetation, evi-
dence of overgrazing or under-use,
presence Of poisonous plants, damage
by range-destroying animals, water