The Glenwood post., 1917-04-28
To Meet Present War Crisis
Additional Permits Are
Granted Temporarily
H. II. FRENCH EXPLAINS

If you have allowed yourself to be.
lieve that forest officials whom car
toonists and photographers, and few
Others, have sometimes pictured as be
ing Indifferent to the needs of heir con-
stituents, you may as well modify that
belief, and do it right now. Few Of our
readers are aware of. the time and
thought which these government Off
cials devote to the matter of the best
solutions of the many problems that
confront them, and the manner by
which they can best serve the people
with whom they come in contact in an
official way, and at the same time car
ry out the great trust with which they
are charged by the general govern
ment-that of conserving the natural
resources of the country
When the grazing allotments were
made this year there was great
clamor from among the stockmen for
an increase in their permits and the
forestry officials, realizing the heavy
demands of the nation for increased
meat production and at the same time
the great danger of overstocking the
grazing areas of the forests, were in
quandary as to what should be done.
Supervisor Harry French of the Holy
Cross forest, after giving the matter
much thought and attention, ventured
to recommend. to Washington an ip-
creased allotment, in view Of the pres
ent emergency, and his suggestions
were accepted and government sane
tion was given to increase the allot-
ment of cattle and horses on the Hcly
Cross reserve nearly. three thousand,
as result Of Mr. French's appeal to
his superiors in behalf of the stock.
men and more particularly in view Of
the emergency conditions with which
the nation is confronted at this time.
Supervisor French's letter to the
permittees on his forest is self-explana-
tory and is as follows:
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT
OF AGRICULTURE
FOREST SERVICE
HOLY CROSS NATIONAL FOREST
Address reply to Forest Supervisor
and refer to G Supervision
Holy Cross.
Glenwood Springs. Colorado,
April "a, 1917.
Dear Sir:-As you are probably aware,
President Wilson has made an appeal
to the farmers of the country to aug
ment the food supply in every way
possible to meet the demands of the
country as result of the present war
For this season, the Secretary au-
thorized the grazing of 11,000 head of
cattle and horses on the Holy Cross
forest Applications for permits were
received for numbers considerably in
excess of the number. authorized. Steps
were being taken to disapprove the ex-
cess numbers. Before this was done,
however, the present war situation de-
veloped, and in view of President Will
SON. Is. appeal, it was felt by the forest
service that it should help out in every
way possible Accordingly, the matter
has been taken up, and the Secretary Of
Agriculture has increased the author
ization for the Holy Cross to 1905
head.
This is nearly 5000 head of cattle
and horses more than has ever used
range on the Holy Cross before. Yo1
undoubtedly will understand, on ac-
count of your personal knowledge Of
forage conditions, that the granting Of
permits for this increased number will
probably mean overgrazing Of the
range to some extent in places, unless
every cattlemsn co-operstes with tho
forest service in preventing it. Tho
service is willing 10 slightly overstock
the range at this time, II by so doing
the resources Of the country, from .
meat production standpoint, can be in.
creased to meet the present emergency.
The range can be allowed to rcuperate
at . later date, by restricting the num-
ber Of stock to be placed thereon, but
the present emergency must be met
now. .ss .
The question Is: "What can the
cattlemen do on the Holy Cross to meet