1899- 



AMERICAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION. 



Sheep Grazing in Arizona. 



Second Paper on the Statement that Forest Reserves are Injured by Grazing. 



AFFIRMATIVE VIEWS OF A RESIDENT. 





[The Forester assumes no responsibility 

 The opposite view on this question was published 



It is almost impossible to overestimate 

 the value of the forests in Central Arizona, 

 that is the Black Mesa and San Francisco 

 Mountain Reserves, in reference to the 

 preservation of the water supply of the 

 Salt River and Gila Valleys. The drain- 

 age of these two Reserves through their 

 numerous tributaries is, to wit., Hell's 

 Canon, Sycamore Canon, Johnson's Canon, 

 Ash Fork Creek, Oak Creek, Beaver 

 Creek, Clear Creek and Pine Creek and 

 numerous other tributaries or " feeders " 

 rising on this high plateau, which com- 

 poses the Black Mesa and San Francisco 

 Mountain Reserves, and flowing into the 

 Verda and Salt Rivers and thence on di- 

 rectly to the country around Phoenix. 

 They are the highest forest areas of the 

 whole Territory, and from their extreme 

 height, some six to eight thousand feet, 

 and parts as high as ten and twelve thou- 

 sand, and the large and almost unbroken 

 forests which cover them, they present in 

 themselves ideal conditions for catching 

 and condensing the clouds and precipitat- 

 ing the moisture upon these high table- 

 lands. 



The effect of sheep grazing in large 

 bands under the herding system, to any 

 intelligent person, who has ever observed 

 the same carefully, cannot fail to be per- 

 nicious in many ways. Large bands of 

 sheep passing through these forests bruise 

 and stunt, and very often break down, the 

 young Pines. In passing by on the cars 

 of the Santa Fe, just near the town of 

 Williams, in an enclosed graveyard the 

 young trees look exceedingly thrifty and 

 beautiful, while on the outside or the pub- 

 lic grazing grounds, there are scarcely any 

 small trees living, and those that are to be 

 found are stunted and broken and show 

 plainly the effects of the trampling of 

 stock. No unprejudiced person can pass 



for views expressed in signed communications, 

 in the October issue. Ed.] 



by and see the contrast between the trees in 

 the inclosure and the poor, broken, with- 

 ered and small trees on the public grazing 

 ground without being forcibly struck with 

 the difference. 



The sheep in the above named reserva- 

 tions are herded in large bands (from 

 eighteen hundred to twenty-four hundred 

 in a band), by an ignorant Mexican herder 

 and his dog. He carries on his borro his 

 entire outfit, consisting of scanty bedding, 

 rations for two or three days and his cook- 

 ing utensils. Three times each day 

 morning, noon and night he builds a fire 

 to prepare his meals, and he has very 

 little regard as to what becomes of the 

 fire after it is once built ; for soon he has 

 packed up his cooking utensils and other 

 belongings on his borro and is off with 

 his sheep again. 



For several months during the year, 

 especially in the Winter and Spring (the 

 latter part of the Winter and through the 

 Spring and Fall), these high elevations are 

 constantly swept by strong winds, and at 

 those times, as there is very little rain, 

 everything is exceedingly dry and inflam- 

 mable. Now consider that there are three 

 hundred thousand sheep, and one herder 

 to every two thousand kindling his fire 

 three times each day, and you can form 

 some idea of the impossibility almost, 

 under such circumstances, to prevent for- 

 est fires. The owners of these sheep, in 

 most cases, cannot see more than one or 

 two bands each day, and in that way it is 

 impossible for them to give this matter of 

 forest fires very careful and close attention. 



In regard to the fact that the streams are 

 fed by the springs down in the canons, 

 that in itself shows to any thoughtful per- 

 son the greatest necessity for protecting 

 the forest cover and supplying as much 

 shade, in the way of trees, as possible to 



