AGRICULTURAL APPROPRIATION BILU 1824. 220 



Mr. Buchanan. ^ oh can uot control it ut all Wy tronpu-ss proceecl- 

 iii^rt, can you i If tlu- (iovernnu-nt laiui it* not fonccMl and tnes4' un- 

 permitted cattle jfo over on the Governnient land, how can you con- 

 trol the situation hy trespass proceedin<;s f 



Colonel (iijKKi.KY. We can <-ontrol it in this way: The stock al- 

 lowed on the Goverinnent laiul is idl covere<l hv j;razin^ pennits. and 

 the f^ra/in^ of stock in the national forests without permits is a tres- 

 pa.ss. It is reco<;ni/ed as such hy the Federal courts. If you can 

 catch the unj)ermitted stock aiul identify its ownershi|) you have, 

 theoretically at least, a perfectly jjood trespa.ss ejisc. 



Mr. liicHANAN. Thc(»retically you have hut practically- - - 



Colonel CiKKKi-KV (iiittTposinj;). F^nl as a prattical proposition it 

 will not work. 



Mr. lUciiANAX. That is hecause there will he a trespass here and 

 there, and the matters will he so small that they will not he worth 

 the troui)le ( 



Colonel (iiiF^KLEV. Kxactly. Another thin<; which I found from 

 my personal iiispeetion. an<l which has lieen checked up hy our j^razinj; 

 experts much more widelv. is tiie fact that we still have a {^ood deal 

 of rantje which is not fully utilized hecause of lack of water. We 

 still have many fjrazinj; allotments where the stock crowds in around 

 the water holes and a lot of good foraj^e is not utilized in outlying 

 parts of the range hecause of lack of water. 



RECOVERY OF COST OF OUTLAY FOR GRAZI.NO LAND. 



Mr. BucHAXAN. How long wouUl it taKe the average grazing land 

 to pay hack the appropriations nece.ssarv to make those improve- 

 ments ? 



Colonel Greeley. Under ordinary conditions vou would recover 

 the cost of the outlay in six to eight years through increased grazing 

 receipts. There have heen some striking cases where the return has 

 heen much quicker than that. To give you an illustration, on the 

 Custer National Forest, in eastern Montana, we found it necessary, 

 on account of the drift of outside cattle, to practically fence the entire 

 boundary. We secured a good deal of cooperation from the stockmen 

 themselves in doing that. 



As a result of that fencing we stabilized the whole situation: the 

 Government range is to-day in much better shape; the permittees 

 are not bothered by trespassing stock; and we were able to put into 

 effect on that forest a grazing fee amounting to 20 cents per head 

 more than similar atljoining range was commandino;. This is, 

 notwithstanding the fact that the improvement had been partly 

 paid for bv the stockmen themselves. That forest range grazes 

 23.000 head of cattle, so that we now get an increased return ecjuiva- 

 lent to .S4,t)00 a year, because of the construction of those improve- 

 ments. 



W^e have had cases where the investment of -SI. 500 to develop a 

 spring has made possible a five months' range for a band of 1,200 

 sheep, range that fromerly was not used at all. There are a good 

 many cases of that character. In the aggreo;ate. they make up a 

 situation where I feel that the investment of a reasonable amount 

 of money in range improvements is one of the most constructive 

 things the Government can do. It will benefit the live-stock in- 



