244 



CONSERVATION 



which were formerly kept in check by native 

 woodpeckers, birds now almost extinct, we 

 have a state of things which leads toward 

 the ruin of agriculture as well as landscape 

 beauty. 



* * It is time to act in self-defense. It is 

 time to make war on the goats as California 

 did on the coyotes, by offering bounties for 

 their scalps or fresh skins. It is time to 

 compel the cattlemen to fence their lands 

 along the forest border and to slaughter or 

 capture the wild cattle which have wandered 

 from their herds into the deep woods. More 

 foresters and fire-wardens are needed and 

 more tree-planting on the public domain. 

 There is nothing of the fad in this ; and the 

 process is as much needed here as in the 

 other parts of the United States, where 

 large sums of public money are being ex- 

 pended on forest-preservation. ' ' 



iH ^ ^ 



War on the Prairie Dog 



In cooperation with the stockmen, the 

 United States Forest Service has begun an 

 active campaign against prairie dogs on the 

 infested ranges within the National Forests 

 of Arizona and New Mexico. Successful 

 attempts at poisoning prairie dogs were made 

 last spring and summer by the Forest Service 

 in other parts of the country, and this year 

 the work will be carried on much more ex- 

 tensively. 



The poison used to put an end to these 

 little pests of the western ranges is pre- 

 pared by coating wheat with a preparation of 

 strychnine, cyanide of potassium, anise oil, 

 and molasses. The stockmen supply horses 

 and men, and the poisoned wheat is given out 

 by the Government officers for distribution 

 upon ranges within the National Forest areas. 

 Each rider carries the wheat in a tin pail 

 supported by a gunny-sack slung across his 

 shoulder. One hand is free for the reins and 

 with the other the rider uses a teaspoon to 

 measure out the poison in "baits" and drop 

 it near the entrance of the holes. The action 

 of the poison is almost instantaneous. Most 

 of the prairie dogs in a town are dead within 

 an hour or two after the bait is dropped. 



Early last month 9,300 pounds of wheat 

 were prepared in Albuquerque and shipped 

 to the various National Forests in Arizona 

 and New Mexico to be distributed. This 

 quantity of wheat will make approximately 

 6,020,000 baits, which will clear up an area 

 of from 65,000 to 80,000 acres, at a cost, ex- 

 clusive of the labor of distributing it on 

 the ranges, of about i to i^ cents an acre. 

 The poison is used to best advantage in the 

 early spring, when the dogs first come out of 

 their winter quarters, and before ihe green 

 grass is plentiful enough to appease their 

 appetites. 



As all Westerners know, prairie dogs are 

 among the worst enemies with which the 

 stockmen have to contend. Where they es- 



tablish themselves the destruction of the 

 range is only a question of time. On ranch- 

 lands they have proved most destructive to 

 a variety of crops, among which are wheat 

 and alfalfa, grain, potatoes, and sugar beets, 

 and on grazing lands they are said to con- 

 sume and destroy so much grass that the 

 grazing capacity of the range is reduced fifty 

 to seventy-five per cent. 



It is expected that the campaign against 

 the dogs in the Arizona and New Mexico 

 Forests will be most successful, as it ha.s 

 met with universal favor among the stock- 

 men, who are giving every assistance to the 

 Poorest Service men. Range improvement in 

 National Forests is one of the chief objects 

 of regulating the grazing, and for this reason 

 the Forest Service is leaving no stone un- 

 turned to prevent range deterioration. 



Stockmen and others who wish to try the 

 poisoning on their own account can obtain 

 the formula for its preparation and direc- 

 tion for its use from the district forester 

 at Albuquerque, N. Mex., or from the Forest 

 Service, Washington. 



)^ ^ «? 



Timber Supply of United States 



' ' We are now cutting timber from the 

 forests of the United States at the rate of 

 500 feet board measure a year for every man, 

 woman, and child. In Europe they use only 

 sixty board-feet." 



Few statements could be made better than 

 this to convince the average man that our 

 country leads the world in the demand for 

 timber. It is made by Treadwell Cleveland, 

 Jr., in a circular which treats of the con- 

 servation of the forests, soil, water, and all 

 the other great natural resources, which has 

 just been published by the United States 

 Forest Service. In speaking further of the 

 consumption of timber in this country, Mr. 

 Cleveland says : 



' ' At this rate, in less than thirty years 

 all our remaining virgin timber will be cut. 

 Meantime, the forests which have been cut 

 over are generally in a bad way for want of 

 care; they will produce only inferior second- 

 growth. We are clearly over the verge of a 

 timber famine. 



"This is not due to necessity, for the for- 

 ests are one of the renewable resources. 

 Rightly used, they go on producing crop 

 after crop indefinitely. The countries of 

 Europe know this, and Japan knows it ; and 

 their forests are becoming with time not 

 less, but more productive. We probably still 

 possess sufficient forest land to grow wood 

 enough at home to supply our own needs. 

 If we are not blind, or wilfully wasteful, 

 we may yet preserve our forest independ 

 ence and, with it, the fourth of our great 

 industries. 



' ' Present wastes in lumber-production are 

 enormous. Take the case of yellow pine, 

 which now heads the list in the volume of 



