158 SURVEYS OF FOREST RESERVES. 



tion of which is worth considering, is the exclusion of sheep for a period 

 of several years, or until the seedlings are too high to be trampled, from 

 any piece of forest land hereafter burned. The object of this would be, 

 first, to allow the seedlings to get a good start; secondly, to remove the 

 temptation to set a forest fire for the purpose of creating new range. 



It is essential that provision should be made for these cases, in whicli 

 an owner, in order to reach the tract allotted to him, must cross a tract 

 allotted to another owner. After careful consideration the simplest and 

 most effective method appears to be to provide for a right of transit 

 with a minimum rate of travel per day. This rate should be between 

 7 and 10 miles; perhaps the most suitable rate, all things considered, 

 being 8 miles. At the same time the owner whose tract is crossed 

 should have received an original allotment sufflciently large to com- 

 pensate him for the amount of feed that would be used by the one or 

 more bands that have the right of transit. 



If provision is made by Congress for a forest reserve patrol and an 

 adequate system of adoiiuistration, an adjustment of the oflQcers can 

 easily be made by which the proper carrying out of the proposed per- 

 mit system may be assured, but it may not be amiss to point out that 

 upon the integrity and ability of these oflicers rests in large measure 

 the success of the system. 



FEES AND COST OF ADMINISTKATION. 



The Government will be subjected to some expense in the adminis- 

 tration of the permit plan, and the cost of this administration should 

 be borne by the sheep owners, to be paid in the form of a fee for the 

 permit. 



ABSTRACT OP PROPOSED REGULATIONS. 



In order to sum up the conclusions of this investigation in a form 

 showing concisely what action should be taken by the Interior Depart- 

 ment to inaugurate a satisfactory system for the regulation of sheep 

 grazing in the Cascade reserve, an abstract of the proposed plan is 

 given below. It must not be forgotten that this report, both in the 

 matter of the extent of damage done to the forests by sheep and in the 

 system proposed for its regulation, applies only to sheep grazing in 

 the Cascade Range Forest Keserve, and that very different findings of 

 fact and propositions for regulation might have been submitted had the 

 area in question been situated under difl'erent climatic conditions, or 

 had contained other types of soil or other kinds of forests, or had been 

 subject to sheep grazing for a longer period, or had other equally 

 important conditions affected the problem. 



The steps necessary to a solution of present difficulties by the Interior 

 Department are as follows, and these steps, in order to save and per- 

 petuate the timber supply and the water supply of middle Oregon, 

 should be taken at once: 



1. Exclude sheep from specified areas about Mount Hood and Crater 

 Lake. 



2. Limit the sheep to be grazed in the reserve to a specified number, 

 based on the number customarily grazed there. 



3. Issue five-year permits allowing an owner to graze on a specified 

 tract, limiting the number of sheep to be grazed on that tract, and 

 giving the owner the exclusive grazing right. 



