The Coconino sun., 1925-05-29

CHIEF FORESTER GREELEY
RESCINDS ORDER TO RE-
DUCE SHEEP GRAZING
Continued from Page ~One)

uSoy oil anu part OI ln6 SolIBF0dV6S
forest, would have been by far the
hardest. hit, knocking US out of close
to $4,000 sheep and something like
$3.50, 900 in valuation for tax purposes.
1t would have resulted in a compare
tive very large increase in taxes on
other classes of property.
The reduction of 74,904 sheep in ma
tional forests of the state during the
next three years had already been Or
dered. The sheepmen appealed to
the department of agriculture. Colonel
Greeley came here and for two weeks
travelled the forests and ranges very
thoroughly, accompanied by Mr., Rach-
ford, his chief assistant, Frank C.. W.
Pooler, district forester, and his as
sistants, and, in the various forests
by the local forest men and the sheep.
men especially interested in the par
ticular section visited.
Secretary Enbaeh of the state wool
growers made the whole trip with
Colonel Greeley. Vice-President FL,
mer Duffield of the association was
with the party in the forests east of
here, and Lou Charlehois of the hoard
of directors was with them in the for
ests in the west part of the sheep
country.
The wool-growers committee was;
T, E. Pollock, Dan M. Francis, Ramon
Aso, Harlow Yaeger, Lou Charlebois,
Nate Bankhead, E. H. Duffield, John
Nelson, E. A.. Sawyer and Isidor
Otundo.
Saturdays meetings at Flagstaff
presided over by President A. A,
Johns of the Arizona Wool Growers
association, was for threshing out, in
line with the facts learned during the
inspection, of the question of reduc-
tion--whether the damage done to re-
production Of pine trees by sheep
grazing was sufficient to require car
rying out the proposed program Of
reduction despite the economic loss
| it would impose on the state and
especially upon the northern counties
Practically everyone attending took
part in the discussion. An address
opening the conference by Colonel
Greeley was followed by an hours
talk by u S. Senator Ashurst of this
state.
Ashurst nearly tipped over the ap
pie cart Political opportunist always
he failed to correctly guage the situa
ton. He thought the sheepmen were
up in arms against Colonel Greeley
so with pyramids of oratorical pyro-
technics accused the colonel of double
dealing and breaking faith. Colone'
Greeley had come here at their re
quest, to see whether he could not
IL tha fIral + q n
in accepting or discarding their re
quests. When the voluble Henry
pulled his invectives he jeaperdizec
stockmen's chances just that much
But the colonel proved too big a man
to take umbrage at the senator.
As Secretary Embach told the Ro-
tary club Tuesday: "Stockmen of Ari
zona dealt with a mighty big MAJ
when they dealt with Colonel Greeley
He gave them what they had been
looking for for 10 years-10 year per
mits, the right to fence their allot
ments, and no cut, at least not be.
fore 1927. We are entirely satisfied
We won on the merits of the case,
without influence Of politics"
Governor George w. P. Hunt alse
spoke. But his talk was chiefly IN
yindication of some of his pet theories
as to the best way to preserve un-
sullied the sovereign rights of the
state of Arizona--and his sovereignty
His talk is printed in this issue.
One of. the points brought out was
by f. H. Duffield, who called atten-
ton to the propaganda from the of
flee of H. Basil Wales, supervisor OF
the Tusayan forest, giving the i'm
preston that sheep were destroying
all pine seedlings. Colonel Greeley
replied that the false impression
created by this propaganda would be
corrected.
The sheepmen have won great
victory. 1t will permit them to plan
ahead with confidence and make ii
easier to finance their operations
The cattlemen of the state accepted
their cut at the Phoenix meeting, held
few weeks ago. The total three,
year cut for the state is $1,000 head
OF this, Coconino cattle will be re-
duced 8171, Tonto $4,000 (for water
shed protection), Tusayan 4937, South
Apache 1907, Crook 5133, Prescott
4IAO. A mere lS 70 DG no cut Oh CH6
North Apache, Sitgreaves or Corona.
10. These cuts are mainly on paper
however, as in most of the forests ma
ture already has made the cuts anG
the new maximum numbers allowed
are simply a basis for the fixing OF
permits later in case the cat
tlemen wish to increase their herds
Colonel Greeley's letter follows:
Flagstaff, Ariz., May rs
Dear Mr.. Embach;
The following embodies my con-
clusions and decision concerning the
livestock reductions on the national
forests in northern Arizona, which
have recently been under discussion.
This applies to the Sitgreaves, Coco
nino, and Tusayan national forests.
Necessary adjustments on the Apache
national forest for the ensuing ten
years can be made without reductions
for the protection Of the range OF
young timber.
The forest service is confronted by
the established fact that serious dam
age has occurred both to the forage
and the young timber growth ON ex-
tensive areas within these three ma
tional forests, from, over grazing, We
cannot evade our esponsibility fol
4bn n~aIi,affsrnnacc of fbo