Saving the Forests 



527 



gions indeed were overgrazed when the 

 Forest Service first undertook, in 1906, 

 to regulate the grazing and collect the 

 fee. In other regions there is still room 

 for more stock than has applied. 



Overgrazing brings deterioration of the 

 range through the injury done the forage 

 plants, which are cropped too close, tram- 

 pled, or otherwise injured. Naturally 

 its effects are cumulative. By reducing 

 the number of stock allowed on the 

 range, opportunity has been given for 

 recuperation ; so that instead of support- 

 ing less and less stock, the range is now 

 supporting more than last year. Each 

 herd of cattle or band of sheep is assigned 

 to a particular locality ; but the charge 

 is made per head, not per acre, and the 

 number of head allowed is fixed. The re- 

 sult has been to prevent friction between 

 rival stockmen, to give stabilit}' to the 

 industry, and to increase the weight and 

 market value of the stock as a result 

 of the improved range conditions. In 

 most of the West the stockmen are glad 

 to accept the measures of regulation 

 and recognize that they are themselves 

 gainers. 



If the amount of stock for which graz- 

 ing permits are sought exceeds the num- 

 ber fixed as the maximum in any one dis- 

 trict, first preference is given to settlers, 

 small owners, and those living nearest 

 by. Previous use of the range is also a 

 ground of preference. Thus the first 

 right is given to those who are making 

 homes aVid helping to develop the country 

 along permanent lines. 



From parts of the forests where a young 

 growth of trees is springing up which is 

 valuable for forest renewals, grazing is 

 rigidly excluded. With this limitation 

 and with the prohibition of overgrazing, 

 utilization of the forage crop, which 

 in rnost of the West abounds within the 

 forest, is safe, wise, and profitable. More 

 than one million cattle and horses and 

 nearly six million sheep and goats were 

 grazed in the forests last season. Through 

 the support which they give to the stock 

 industry, the national forests make one 

 of their largest returns to the economic 

 life of the West. 



The Forest Service is now prosecuting 

 investigations to find out how the range 

 may be bettered through modifying the 

 present methods of handling the stock or 

 through introducing new grasses. With 

 forage plants as with trees, man's use 

 without regard to the effect which fol- 

 lows is very apt to produce unfavorable 

 changes in the kinds of plants which re- 

 produce themselves. It is not improbable 

 that by studying and taking advantage of 

 the natural habits of the various species 

 the range within the national forests can 

 be brought to improve itself materially, 

 thus increasing still further its carry- 

 ing power and value to the West. 



THE MOST IMPORTANT PRODUCT OF THE 

 FORESTS 



But of the three major products which 

 the forests of the West contribute to man's 

 use — wood, forage, and water — the last 

 is by far the most important. 



Upon the mountain "slopes of the na- 

 tional forests head the streams which, 

 emerging from the mountains, are di- 

 verted into the ranchers' ditches and turn 

 the brown of the desert to vivid green. 

 These mountain slopes should remain 

 forever forested. Once bared, their 

 early-melting snows and summer rains 

 will pour into the rivers like water from 

 a roof. Comparative measurements of 

 stream discharge from forested and un- 

 forested basins alike in all other respects 

 have been made in the West by the U. S. 

 Geological Survey. They show sudden 

 floods followed by low water in the 

 former case, a relatively equalized flow 

 in the latter. Neither the West nor the 

 country can afi^ord to suffer the monu- 

 mental waste which forest denudation 

 would mean. 



Many millions of dollars are now in- 

 vested in national reclamation work. It 

 is recognized that forestry is as neces- 

 sary to the success of this noble and 

 colossal plan to make fertile the desert 

 as the dams and reservoirs which supple- 

 ment Nature's storage. When the forests 

 are stripped from the mountains the 

 streams become silt-laden, and the build- 

 ers of many a costly dam have seen their 



