IMPROVEMENT IN RANGE CONDITIONS 



By A. F. POTTER 

 Associate Forester United States Forest Service 



years have passed since 

 the Forest Service took charge of 

 the National Forests and it 

 seems opportune at this time 

 to review what has been accomplished. 

 Our job in the main is to protect this 

 most valuable public property against 

 destruction by natural agencies and to 

 secure the widest, possible utilization of 

 the forest products under a plan which 

 will preserve the permanent productive- 

 ness of the Forests. In other words, to 

 preserve the forests and make them add 

 most to the public welfare. Upon our 

 success in this regard depends the per- 

 manence of the National Forests, be- 

 cause to secure and hold the support of 

 the people we must manage their 

 property in a manner which is generally 

 satisfactory to them. 



When the first National Forests, or 

 Forest Reserves as they were then 

 called, were created, it was with the 

 idea only of keeping in government 

 ownership lands having valuable stands 

 of timber which should be held to meet 

 the future needs of the people. No 

 provision was made for even the utili- 

 zation or sale of the mature timber 

 until several years afterwards, and even 

 then little thought was given to use of 

 the other products and resources of the 

 forests. While it was known that the 

 lands were being used to some extent 

 for the grazing of livestock, this was 

 looked upon as only a temporary use 

 which most likely would have to be dis- 

 continued before any extension of the 

 forest or improvement in its condition 

 could be secured. Therefore, the ten- 

 dency was to restrict grazing very 

 closely, particularly the grazing of 

 sheep, and either prohibit it entirely or 

 treat it as something which must 

 ultimately be discontinued. This was 

 practically the situation at the time the 

 National Forests were transferred to the 

 Department of Agriculture and came 



110 



under the jurisdiction of the Forest 

 Service. 



FORAGE RESOURCES A VALUABLE ASSET 



The outlook for the stockmen at that 

 time was not a very bright one and 

 naturally many felt that the mainte- 

 nance of the National Forests was detri- 

 mental to their interests. It was realized 

 in the beginning by the Forest Service 

 that the forage resources of the National 

 Forests represented a valuable asset 

 upon which not only the welfare of the 

 stockmen but that of a large proportion 

 of the people was dependent, and it 

 set about to work out a plan which 

 would develop this resource and pro- 

 mote its use to the fullest extent con- 

 sistent with good forest management. 



The first thing to be done was to 

 open up for use many areas from which 

 stock had been excluded and to author- 

 ize grazing upon many areas which had 

 previously been unused. The next was 

 to substitute full use of all areas added 

 to the Forests for the earlier policy of 

 restriction. The result was that during 

 the first three years, or from 1905 to 

 1907, the area of the average grazing 

 unit was reduced about one-third, or 

 in other words, the number of stock 

 grazed upon the National Forests in 

 proportion to the area of the range in- 

 creased about 50 per cent. 



BAD EFFECTS OF OVERGRAZING 



Unfortunately, however, many of the 

 areas which were added to the National 

 Forests during this period had previously 

 been badly overgrazed, and it was 

 evident that a material reduction must 

 be made in the number of stock grazed 

 there before damage to the forest could 

 be stopped, or before it would be possible 

 to secure any improvement in the con- 

 dition of the range. This made it 

 necessary first of all to ascertain the 

 extent to which the overcrowded con- 



