The silver state. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1909-1925, 1920-01-10
GROUND SQUIRRELS
CAUSE OF BIG LOSS


tensive travel of the range. to see
quite a few jackrabbits and ground
squirrels for every steer or sheep en-
countered is the general experience.
Owing to their small size and hiding
habits ii is probable that for every
n observed a considerable number
will escape notice.
Rodents, also, are wise in Natures
lore of self preservation, and in their
Ease it is principally a question of
food supply. J~ackrabbits migrate
from place to place over extensive
areas to wherever the vegetation is
best. From sections overgrazed by
livestock and their own subsistence
they move to better feeding grounds.
While the movement of ground squir-
rels Is much more restricted they
manage to be plentiful where vege-
tation Is plentiful and thin out by
starvation or migration as the vege-
tation decreases or disappears. OF
the two the ground squirrel is I'M
d%oubtedly the most serious pest. He
is constantly with us and. at least
near the farms in northern and east
ern Nevada, increasing in numbers.
Destruction of farm crops alone in
this section by rodents, chiefly the
ground squirrels, will run into hun
dreds of thousands of dollars annu-
ally. On the other hand, ~jackrabbits
have their ups and downs, due to eli
matte severity to soma extent, but
primarily to disease. Some years they
are far more plentiful and destruc-
tive than other years, but their bat
ting average, one year with another
Is high enough in point of consump
ton of range and farm vegetation.
To the ground squirrel we can
charge another grave offense, namely
the harvesting of enormous quaint
ties of the seeds of range plants
necessary for natural rev~egetation,
Our range grazing area as a whole
is rapidly decreasing in carrying ca
pacity due to o~ver-grazing and unre-
strcited seasonal grazing to permit
the range plants to reseed themselves
and store plant food in their roots to
maintain existence. Over grazing re-
suits from an excess number Of cattle
and sheep on the range plus the ro-
dents.
The remedy, aside from necessary
protective regulations with respect to
seasonal grazing under either of the
following methods, presents a choice:
federal or state control regulations
reducing the number of livestock on
he range to a protective point from
which the gradual revegetation of the
range can begin, with subsequent in
creases as the carrying capacity be-
comes restored, leaving the rodent to
pursue the ever tenor of his way;
or we can proceed to destroy the ro-
dent, leaving the livestock now on
the range undiminished in numbers
with the outlook that with some sea-
sonal regulations observed in grazing
the carrying capacity in due time can
be measurably increased.
AS the latter remedy would natur-
ally be sanctioned by the best in
of %stockmen. farmers and the
people of the state, it may be of in
terest to discuss it briefly:
First, we must adjust our minds
to the size of the problem. Ten.
twenty or fifty thousand dollars an
nually expended in rodent control in
state would be about as effica-
cious as trying to put out a ten-story
building fire with a garden hose. To
beat the rodent multiplication and
reach the point of their practical ex-
termination within a reasonable
time, so that thereafter some mini