VALUE OF GRAZING MANAGEMENT ON THE CARIBOU 



NATIONAL FOREST 



BY C. H. SHATTUCK 



Professor of Forestry, University of Caiifomia 



CATTLE GRAZING ON THE CARIBOU NATIONAL FOREST 



Forage of this region lias greatly improved during the past six years owing to proper handling 



of the stock and the range. 



GlARIBOU National Forest has developed the 

 I management of its grazing lands probably to a 



^^gS higher degree than any other forest in Idaho. 

 It has been the writer's privilege to spend parts 

 of two summers in an intensive study of the range and 

 the methods em- 

 ployed by the offi- 

 cers in charge of 

 this work, and to 

 note carefully the 

 present conditions 

 as well as to make 

 many comparisons 

 of the present 

 methods, and the 

 results obtained by 

 these management 

 operations with 

 former conditions 

 and methods. 



Ten years ago 

 many parts of the 

 range in Idaho 

 were badly overgrazed. This resulted in the increase 

 of the non-palatable plants, the decrease of the val- 

 uable forage plants, especially the better grasses, the 

 destruction of the young trees, and often in severe 

 erosion. All of these results were bad for the range 

 and therefore for the men devoting themselves to the 

 highly important industries of stock raising and wool 

 growing. The general attitude of these men toward 

 the future of these industries was extremely pessimis- 

 tic. They were 

 discouraged. They 

 felt that there was 

 far too much stock 

 on the range for 

 the good of either, 

 and that the en- 

 croachments of the 

 settler and new 

 stockmen would 

 soon ruin what 

 had been a great 

 and profitable in- 

 dustry. Many of 

 the older men 

 would talk of the 

 good o 1 d days 

 when the range 



636 



CATTLE AND HORSES TOGETHER. 



These are to be found on the higher alpine meadows of the grazing range, Caribou National 



Forest. 



was good and there was no strife and contention 

 among them over the grass and water. But a large 

 number of them had come to regard grazing as a badly 

 overdone business which had seen its best days and 

 was rapidly on the decline. The Department of Graz- 

 ing of the United 

 States Forest Ser- 

 vice began some 

 nine years ago to 

 work out a system 

 of grazing man- 

 agement with the 

 general object of 

 improving the 

 conditions of the 

 range and the 

 range business. 

 How was this to 

 be accomplished? 

 The problem was 

 of vast magnitude, 

 and was involved 

 and complex. To 

 begin with, the stockmen themselves had few sugges- 

 tions as to how the range could be improved. In fact, 

 most of them said it could never be done. A careful 

 analysis of the situation revealed the fact that very 

 little definite information was at hand with which to 

 undertake the solution of such a tremendous but 

 highly important problem. 



Five general objects were deemed highly desir- 

 able and therefore most valuable to be secured. 



Greater p r o - 

 duction in the 

 amount of forage 

 plants. 



Imp rovement 

 in the class of for- 

 age plants. 



Closer utiliza- 

 tion of much of 

 the range lands 

 both as to forage 

 and water. 



Improvements 

 in the methods of 

 handling stock. 



A better sys- 

 tem of protection 

 of young forest 



^^r^-'**--"^liN^^aw^ 



