THE GRASS LANDS 167 



happened, the Forest Service usually reduced the number of 

 cattle permitted to be graced by the purchaser. 



The net result of more than thirty years of effort to improve 

 range conditions on the National Forest has been summarized 

 in the Western Range Report as follows: 



"The trend of depletion of the range has been checked, and 

 notable improvement is the rule. The gracing capacity of the 

 range area in use in 1934 has been improved 19 per cent since 

 1910. Grazing capacity on national'forest ranges today is, on 

 the whole, 70 per cent of that on the virgin range, as compared 

 to 33 per cent on the grazing districts and the public domain 

 and 49 per cent on privately owned lands in the western states. 

 At the present time, even in spite of a long period of deficient 

 rainfall, the 1928-34 drought, and the extra demands of the 

 19 29' 3 5 depression, only 19 per cent of the range area on 

 national forests is in such condition as to require major adjust' 

 ments in use to permit continued improvement." 18 



For this use of its grazing land the Forest Service still 

 charges about 15 cents per cow per month. Sheep cost about 

 41/4 cents per sheep per month. This money, like the money 

 earned from the sale of timber, is turned over to the Fed" 

 eral Treasury where it goes to the general fund of the treas' 

 ury. One'third of this money is returned to the county in 

 which it was collected to be spent for roads and schools. Thus 

 the federal forest when it takes land out of private ownership 

 returns to that area about as much money as would have been 

 earned from tax revenues. At the same time the county knows 

 that under Forest Service management these revenues will be 

 constant, whereas under private use the revenues would cease 

 as soon as the resources of the land were exhausted. 



Unfortunately this policy did not solve the whole grazing 

 problem. Most ranchers could shift their excess herds to rail' 

 road, state, and other land, chiefly that controlled by the General 



18 Memorandum from Forest Service, August, 1938. 



