140 OUR FEDERAL LANDS 



concentrated food value, or the tender foliage of an 

 earlier state of growth. Their hoofs trample, cut, 

 pack. They may loosen or compact the soil; they 

 may facilitate or almost wholly prevent reforesta- 

 tion; but always there is an effect on the forage 

 crop." 



So the health of the range is intensively studied 

 and constantly watched. 



"Is its carrying capacity on the decline? If so, 

 why? Because the stock come on too early or stay 

 too late? Can they better be distributed by a differ- 

 ent method of salting, by new water development, by 

 drift fences, or by some other change in the method 

 of handling? Or must the number be decreased or 

 the grazing season shortened? If the range is de- 

 pleted, how can it be restored to normal productivity 

 with least disturbance to those dependent on con- 

 tinuous use of the area? Or would it perhaps do 

 better if used by a different class of stock by cattle 

 instead of sheep, or vice versa?" 



RECREATIONAL USE OF NATIONAL FORESTS 



Love of out-door life is inherent. From earli- 

 est times people have used woodlands for recreation. 

 We can imagine the early colonists, whose very 

 homesites and fields had to be "cleared," spreading 

 their table-cloths now and then upon the grassy floors 

 of specially beautiful groves. Those of us who were 

 brought up in country towns recall that each had its 



