GRAZING LANDS. 



17 



In part the glades bear close swards of paludose grasses and sedges; in part they 

 are covered with a more or less open tangle of willow brush. The clean grassy or 

 sedgy portions are occasionally used as natural hay_nieadows. The willow-covered 

 tracts are pastured by cattle and horses. 



At higher altitudes, 7,500 to 9,500 feet, is found the fourth class of grazing 

 lands. They consist of wet meadows of very ancient fire glades in the subalpine 

 forest and of ground thinly stocked with open stands of that type of forest. In 

 the aggregate, 70,000 acres belong to this type of grazing lands. 



The meadow portion consists of swampy, marshy tracts at the heads of streams 

 and of narrow, springy margins fringing lakelets and tarns. They occur throughout 

 the reserve along all the main divides, but are more abundant and contain a larger 

 acreage than elsewhere in the following localities: Summit of Buffalo Plateau in 

 T. 9 S., R. 11 E.; at the head of Stillwater River in T. 9 S., Rs. 14 and 16 E.; and 

 at the head of Clark Fork in T. 9 S. , R. 15 E. These tracts, as well as the rest of 

 the class of lands to which they belong, are of great importance in conserving and 

 regulating the water conditions of the region. They are, in effect, vast sponges, 

 absorbing and holding back surplus flood waters early in the season, and gradually 

 releasing the stored-up volumes as summer advances. 



The swampy areas are devoid of arborescent growth except for scattered willows 

 here and there. The dry traets are either bai'e or thinly stocked with trees. When 

 timberless it is owing to past fires and deficient restockage, largely caused by the 

 prevailing low seed-producing capacity of the high subalpine foi'est. Few of the 

 tracts are pastured at the present time. Many of them are inaccessible except to 

 sheep, which were formerly ranged in a few localities; but the riiarks of such sheep- 

 ing are now nearly obliterated. During the Indian occupancy the areas accessible 

 from the National Park were used by the buffalo as summer ranges. They are dotted 

 with the wallows and marked by the deep, well-worn trails of these animals. The 

 tough, close sward of grass and sedge which covers these tracts will bear a consider- 

 able amount of hard usage before becoming overgrazed; but owing to the important 

 part they occupy in the conservation and regulation of the outflow from the region 

 only a very limited amount of, stock should be permitted, while the regulations 

 excluding sheep should be continued in full force, as at present. 



The largest area of available pasture lands in the. reserve is included in the 5th 

 class and comprises the summits of the different plateaus and the true alpine regions 

 generally. In the aggregate, the class covers 156,000 acres. Most of the lands are 

 situated in that part of the reserve which lies east of Boulder River, and particularly 

 in Tps- 6 and 7 S., Rs. 13 and 14 E., Tps. 8 and 9 S., Rs. 18, 19, and 20 E., embracing 

 tracts belonging to Lake and Beartooth plateaus. Other large tracts of this class 

 of lands occur in Tps. 4 and 5 S., Rs. 11 and 13 E., on the summits of West and East 

 Boulder plateaus. Smaller tracts are scattered along the crests of the higher divides. 

 9574— No. 29—04 2 



