18 Miscellaneous Circular 71, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture 



Among the regulations which provide for the conservation of range 

 and allied resources, of primary importance is the regulation that 



p ... only a certain number of stock shall be admitted to 



and Cooperation the forest and that they shall be grazed upon desig- 

 Protect the nated areas. The time when the stock are admitted 

 Rangefrom to the forest ranges and the time they leave are also 

 Overgrazing. regulated, in order to prevent the destruction of the 

 forage. Grazing early in the spring, when the ground is soft and 

 the grass just springing up, would ultimately destroy all the range 

 value of the land. Other regulations provide for the handling of the 

 stock so that the range may be evenly and fully utilized. The essen- 

 tials of range management are provided for in the national forest 

 regulations, but a great many range improvements are the result of 

 voluntary cooperation between the stockmen and the Forest Service. 

 Throughout Utah the stockmen are organized into local stock asso- 



Fig. 12.— Grazing is an important use of the open lands within national forests 



ciations, which act as a unit in cooperating with the Forest Service, 

 and through them first-class range management is being achieved. 



Not all the national forests of Utah are used equally for grazing, 

 as some have much larger proportions of grazing land than others. 

 Furthermore, some are heavily used by cattle and horses and lightly 

 by sheep, while on others the situation is reversed. How the live- 

 stock are distributed among the forests is shown in Figure 13. 



WATER RESOURCES 



Irrigated farming is the backbone of Utah agriculture. Eighty 

 per cent of the improved farm land, or nearly 1^ million acres, is 

 irrigated. These lands produce crops worth $50,000- 

 000 annually. The greater part of the water used in 

 irrigation comes from mountain watersheds which are 

 included within the national forests. The heavy 

 rainfall on the mountains is not due to their being 

 forested — it is the rains that make the forests, 



Irrigation 

 Water Comes 

 chiefly from 

 National Forests. 



