218 WESTERN GRAZING GROUNDS AND FOREST RANGES 



The Cash Value of Permits. Usually the advantages 

 of grazing stock on the National Forests are so apparent 

 that the permit has come to have a great pecuniary 

 value, resulting in a premium on both ranches and stock 

 located within or adjacent to National Forest ranges. 

 Instances are known where sheep grazing under permit 

 on a Forest have been sold for as much as $2 per head 

 more than the market value, solely because the ranch 

 which went with the purchase controlled the range in 

 the National Forest on which the sheep grazed. 



Permits Nonsalable and Nontransferable. Permits to 

 graze stock on a National Forest are not transferable. 

 The Government recognizes the claims of the pioneer 

 settler, who was occupying the ranges when the forests 

 were established, by allowing him to remain in posses- 

 sion of them so long as he complies with the regula- 

 tions. But it cannot for very obvious reasons permit 

 him to designate his successor either by sale or inheri- 

 tance. To do so would result in range monopoly, and 

 the Government would lose control of its own lands. 



A purchaser of stock grazing on a National Forest may 

 secure a permit for the rest of the season during which 

 the original permit ran, but at the beginning of the next 

 grazing season he must file an application, and take his 

 chances of being granted a permit based entirely on his 

 individual merits as an applicant and not by right of 

 purchase from the former permittee. 



If, however, the transfer includes both the stock and 

 such necessary ranch property as is clearly commen- 

 surate with the number of stock involved, and required 

 for its proper handling, the permit may be renewed to 

 the purchaser, less any reductions that would have 

 been made on 'the original permit or are required by the 

 regulations. 



