FOREST SERVICE. 



391 



ance which will gain for them benefits of far greater value than those 



hitherto secured. Continued cooperative assistance is therefore very 



desirable. 



Permits. 



The reductions from last year's totals amount to 57,951 cattle, 1 86,903 

 sheep, and 12,632 goats. The increases amount to 6,964 horses and 

 1,355 s"wnne. The net reduction in the total number of animals 

 grazed under permit was 2.72 per cent. These reductions in the 

 number of stock grazed were due to tw^o principal causes. One was 

 the restoration to the unreserved public domain of 2,300,000 acres of 

 land wdiich, because of its relatively low altitude, accessibility, and 

 high grazing capacity, comprised much of the best range. The other 

 was the pronounced shortage, already mentioned, of all kinds of 

 stock at the beginning of the season of 1911. Although the number 

 of cattle and horse permittees is only 193 less than in 1910, a loss of 

 less than 1 per cent, and the number of sheep and goat permittees is 

 110 greater than in 1910, a gain of 2.2 per cent, the average number 

 of cattle and horses per permit is only 70.6 and of sheep and goats 

 1,459, as against 72 cattle and horses and 1,531 sheep and goats in 

 1910. In other words, the number of permittees remained practically 

 the same as in 1910. The decrease in the amount of permitted stock 

 caused by the eliminations and by voluntary reductions was largely in 

 excess of the net reductions reported, but was offset by large increases 

 in a number of States, made possible by the development of new 

 ranges and by increases in the carrying capacity of ranges long 

 occupied. The vStates in which increased numbers of stock were 

 grazed and the increases made are as follo\vs : 



