18 Plants Used by Sheep on Mountain Range. 



FIRE PROTECTION. 



The actual grazing of the sheep has little bearing on the fire pro- 

 tection of the forests examined. The eating of the shrubby underbrush 

 removes some of the danger of the start and spread of ground fires. But 

 the sheep do not touch the young pines and firs and spruces and these 

 burn much more readily than do the deciduous shrubs and trees. The 

 presence of the sheepmen in the woods is, however, an aid in fire pro- 

 tection. The first and most essential thing in fighting a forest fire is 

 to know quickly that one exists and to have some one there before it is 

 large. The sheepmen fear fire. Their sheep are very unwieldy and in 

 case of a fire of any size would be destroyed in large numbers. They 

 are, therefore, very watchful of camp fires, both of their own and of 

 other campers whom they may find in the woods. The woods during 

 the huckleberry season are well filled with campers, many of whom are 

 inexperienced and do not realize the fire danger. The sheepmen are 

 constantly on the lookout and are ready to get word to the forest fire 

 patrol and to stamp out a fire in its incipiency. They clear out the roads 

 so that they may move their sheep and camp supplies and thus make the 

 country accessible to the fire fighters. 



The usual contention that it is to the interest of the owner of stock 

 to burn over the forest floor and thus to induce a new growth of weeds 

 and grass can not apply to the sheepmen in this region. Weeds and 

 grass are not what he wants. He wants the dense woods full of moist 

 and succulent brush and these would be desroyed by a forest fire. 

 In the Pacific Northwest, the fire season is the months of July, August, 

 and September. These are the months when the sheep are in the woods 

 and when the sheepmen most dread the fires. 



After the forest is logged and burned over, it is several years 

 before the brush re-establishes itself to such an extent as to form good 

 grazing. Figure 1 5 shows a piece of yellow pine land which was 

 burned over by the owner, the lumber company, after logging oper- 

 ations in 1907, four years before. It is not yet as valuable for sheep 

 grazing as unburned land. 



RELATIONS OF THE SHEEPMEN AND LOCAL FARMERS. 



In the days of the open and uncontrolled range, much ill-feeling 

 and hostility arose between the sheepmen and the local farmers of the 

 region grazed over who were usually trying to raise some cattle and 

 horses. The present leasing system followed by the Potlatch Lumber 

 Company eliminates all such difficulty. The sheepman pays for and owns 

 the grazing on certain definite tracts of land. The farmers have their 

 own land or lease definite tracts from the lumber company. Each 

 party knows his own land and respects the other man's rights. 



In the olden days under the "first come first served" system of 

 the open range, each year saw a race between sheepmen for the best 

 land. The finest grazing was the most overstocked. Such strenuous 



