The Western news. [volume] (Libby, Mont.) 1933-current, 1938-09-08
Overstocked Ronqe
Destroying Feed

-
Montana has in its Flathead river
wilderness depleted winter range
graveyard for big game which the
famed Selway area in Idaho will
duplicate within 10 years unless its
elk and deer herds are brought
within bounds through hunting,
says DR.. A. B. Hatch, assistant pro-
lessor in charge of game manage
ment at the University of Idaho.
Dr.. Hatch spent 10 days in the
South Fork drainage southeast of
Kalispell in July as an invited neu-
trail member of a Montana game
survey party. Acute range condi-
tons he observed so resembled prob
lens confronting the SelWay elk and
deer herds that he described them
in letter to I. J Longeteig, Craig
mont, president of the Clearwater
Wildlife federation. Parts of his
letter follow
''The Flathead elk problem is one
of winter range, and it differs in no
essential way, except in age, from
our problem i'm the Selway.s Cat
tie and sheep are wholly excluded
+. so there can be no question
but that the damage is caused by
game only. Summer evidences Of
serious winter overgrazing of
browse species are extremely diff
ficult to recognize; indeed, they
have even escaped the scrutiny of
range experts. 1t is little wonder,
therefore, that most summer Wis
itors and fall hunters-and even
some packers and guides--are will
ing to swear that game is scarce,
when actually it is over-abundant.
In contrast to the SelWay, the
shrubs in the Flathead forest, be-
cause of less rainfall, are relatively
scattered and therefore afford less
winter feed. But on the winter
ranges even these shrubs are to-
day largely dead or dying because
of over-broWsing Overgrazing
in the SelWay represents merely ar
incipient stage of damage as it ex-
lists in the South Fork. Over all
the favored south slopes the shrubs
have been So heavily eaten thai
there remain only dead and naked
stools. Shrubs still alive resemble
weird witches brooms from which
each winter every inch of new
growth is gnawed. Their complete
death is only a matter of few
more winters.
1.-THE bottomlands, normally Gov
cred with dense thickets of juni
per, willow, and aspen, are liter
ally bare of all palatable browse
from the ground to or 10 fee
in height. This situation is dis
astrous for game. On well man
aged ranges, these bottomlands re
main untouched during averag,
winters, thus accommodating larg'
amount of food which serves as ;
buffer during severe winters.
"Strangest of all is the appear
! ance of the dense lodgepole pine re
production. On young stands, near
! ly all the needles and shoots hav
,, been eaten off; on older trees, tn
!, branches are stripped as high as /
feet from snowline to the reach o
the tallest bull.
| Incredible as it may seem,
would judge roughly that pitch,
, lodgepole pine represents as mucl
as rs per cent of the late winte
diet of elk in the South Fork. Thi
is more serious than would first az
pear because twigs of pine do nc
regenerate as do those of leaf
, shrubs, and the almost complete ex
haustion of the present winter foo
> supply is thus in sight.
! Over grazing, judging from tn
: age an dextent of the damage, ar
parently has been in progress we
: over a decade Today, althoug
there are as many acres of winte
: range in the South Fork as the Sc
: way (75,000), it is heavily ovel
! stocked by only $500 elk and fe'
q hundred deer in contrast to 1l,0(
: elk and 1000 deer in the Selwa
Z Even last winter, which w;
g quite mild, these 1900 elk cleane
= up every bit of annual browse {
: the winter ranges and in mar
places waded deep SHOWS and Il
cold north slopes to procure a
ditional food This summer the
l. is noticeable lack of yearlin
y In comparison to the Selway hero
ar We found seven dead elk in Il
lie small percentage of the total ram