322 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTUKK 



springs, the erection of drift fences to keep the stock on their proper 

 ranges, the eradication of poisonous plants, and range adjustments 

 between classes of stock. 



Another form of cooperation is the enforcement of special rules- 

 adopted by a majority of the users of a particular range and ap- 

 proved by the Forest Service as fair and beneficial. These rules- 

 deal with such matters as the placing of salt on the ranges, the han- 

 dling of round-ups, and the exclusive use of purebred bulls. 



Special rules are now in force on the national forests througk 

 cooperation of this character with 733 local livestock associations. 

 Each represents a majority of the permittees using a particular 

 range. Out of the many thousand permittees affected by these 

 special rules, the number who have opposed the collection of assess- 

 ments by the associations or attempted to evade the requirements is- 

 extremely small. The livestock associations, furthermore, have been 

 of enormous assistance to the Forest Service by affording responsible 

 local agencies with whom many phases of administration, such as 

 the proper seasons for grazing each type of range, rotation grazing,, 

 and other improvements in range use, can be discussed and often 

 directly settled. 



In revising the grazing regulations it is proposed to extend the 

 cooperation with stockmen still further through the issuance, in 

 some instances, of a single grazing permit to an association for the 

 total number of stock which its members are entitled to graze on 

 the forest. A broader responsibility will thereby be placed upon 

 the association for the enforcement of satisfactory management of 

 stock on the range. Where the associations represent communities 

 in which the stock interests are closely related it is felt that this 

 new plan will be acceptable to the stockmen, as it gives them a 

 larger responsibility in local range management than they have 

 heretofore had. 



One of the outstanding examples of cooperation was the revision 

 of the grazing manual by forest officers in conference with a com- 

 mittee representing the various livestock associations in the western, 

 range States. This committee discussed the proposed changes, sug- 

 gested modifications, and in many ways aided materially in harmon- 

 izing points of view and improving the regulations. In the rede- 

 termination of grazing fees the cooperation of the livestock associa- 

 tions was sought and will be an essential factor in arriving at the 

 final result. 



STABILITY OF GBAZING PRIVILEGES. 



There has been a feeling among range livestock men that the 

 grazing privileges on the national forests were not stable. The per- 

 mits have been revocable at the discretion of the Secretary of Agri- 

 culture, and the policy of the service has been to encourage new 

 settlers by granting them limited grazing privileges on fully oc- 

 cupied ranges through moderate reductions in the numbers of stock 

 run by the larger and older permittees. 



The range appraisal has demonstrated that national-forest per- 

 mittees have, in fact, been exceptionally secure in their tenure of 

 range use in comparison with what has happened on other large 

 bodies of lands leased for grazing, whether State, Indian, or private. 



