NATIONAL FORESTS AND THE WATER SUPPLY 



1521 





productiveness entirely to irrigation, are many times 

 more valuable than the rather mediocre lands within the 

 National Forest, even when the latter can be cultivated 

 successfully. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 

 Consequently, 

 all of the land 

 within this Na- 

 tional Forest, 

 much of which 

 is easily erod- 

 ed, has been 

 classified a s 

 primarily valu- 

 able for water- 

 shed protection 

 wherever there 

 was any dan- 

 ger that its cul- 

 tivation might 

 cause erosion 

 or changes in 

 stream flow 

 that would re- 

 sult in damage 

 to the irrigat- 

 ed lands below. 

 The same 

 principle also 

 applies in the 

 case of lands 

 primarily valu- 

 able for mu- 

 nicipal supply 

 or for hydro- 

 electric proj- 

 ects. Out of 

 the 1 2,000,000 

 acres of land 

 in the Western 

 States that 

 have been elim- 

 inated from 

 the National 

 Forests or 

 opened to en- 

 try in the last 

 five years, 

 pract i c al 1 y 

 none are pri- 

 marily valu- 

 able for water- 

 s h e d protec- 

 tion. The wa- 

 ter user and 

 his needs have 

 been given first 

 consideration. Within the National Forests is a large 

 part of the western summer stock range. Before the 

 creation of the Forests, this range had been so badly 



REGULATED GRAZING ON THE NATIONAL FORESTS 



Upper — Sheep grazing on the Santa Fe National Forest, New Mexico. Approximately 7,500,000 sheep^ use 

 the National Forest range each year. Damage to the vegetative cover is prevented by limiting 

 the number of stock to the carrying capacity of the range and by proper methods of handling, 

 such as open herding, illustrated in the picture. 



Lower. — Cattle grazing on the Santa Fe National Forest, New Mexico. Approximately 2,000,000 cattle and 

 horses use the National Forest Range each year. Full utilization of the range is secured by 

 the proper development of water holes and salting grounds. 



trampled and so heavily over-grazed that its carrying ca- 

 pacity had been seriously decreased, and, what was 

 worse from the standpoint of the water user, the protec- 



t i v e influence 

 of the surface 

 cover of grass, 

 shrubs, and 

 small trees had 

 been largely 

 destroyed. In 

 many localities 

 over - grazing 

 had been the 

 cause of severe 

 erosion, disas- 

 trous floods, 

 and reduced 

 stream flow 

 during the dry 

 season. 



Grazing in 

 the National 

 Forests has 

 been regulated 

 in such a way 

 as to repair 

 such damage 

 to the fullest 

 possible extent 

 and to prevent 

 similar damage 

 on areas ' not 

 already affect- 

 ed. Not only 

 has grazing 

 been restricted 

 in certain lo- 

 calities, but 

 new methods 

 of handling the 

 stock have 

 been i n t r o - 

 duced. In the 

 case of sheep, 

 for example, 

 the old method 

 of grazing 

 them in large, 

 compact bodies 

 and bringing 

 them back 

 night after 

 night to the 

 same bedding 

 ground, which 

 proved so in- 

 jurious to both forage and soil, has been replaced by 

 handling them in smaller, more open bands and by bed- 

 ding them down wherever night overtakes them. Cattle 



