70 WESTERN GRAZING GROUNDS AND FOREST RANGES 



(Agropyron smithii), and in the northwest Mountain 

 bunch grass (Festuca viridula), the latter seldom being 

 found below 6,000 feet. These parks, excepting for the 

 surrounding timber, are similar in appearance and forage 

 covering to those great rolling prairies in the higher por- 

 tions of eastern New Mexico at the upper end of the 

 Texas staked plains. 



Then we have the mountain meadows, found all over 

 the country. These are especially fine in the higher 

 regions of the Sierras in California, where they furnish 

 a majority of the mountain feeding grounds. These Cali- 

 fornia meadows lie at great elevations, generally over 

 6,000 feet and on up to perpetual snow. They are cov- 

 ered with a short wiry but nutritious grass known locally 

 as short-hair grass (Calamagrostis brewerii), which will 

 stand an immense amount of grazing without being com- 

 pletely killed out. This grass never grows very high 

 but when eaten down it comes up again with amazing 

 rapidity. 



In the Rockies the feed on these high meadows is of 

 great variety. White clover and Kentucky bluegrass 

 (Poa pratensis) are found in abundance in the more 

 moist places, while gramas and bunch grasses grow in 

 great luxuriance. This together with a profusion of 

 weeds and forage plants which seem very attractive to 

 sheep furnishes feed for a large number of stock. Such 

 areas should never be grazed too early, lest the cutting 

 of the soft soil injure the ground cover and eventually 

 ruin the entire meadow. 



In some of the California mountains these meadows 

 constitute all the stock range available. They lie in the 

 most inaccessible places, surrounded by great granite 

 mountains, bare of timber. To reach them the stock is 



