B. P. I.— 153. G. F. P. I.— 110. 



RANGE MANAGEMENT IN THE STATE OF 

 WASHINGTON. 



INTRODUCTION. 



Owing to the greatly lowered carrying capacity of ranges in the 

 State of Washington, investigations were begun in the spring of 1901 

 to determine, if possible, what steps must be taken to preserve these 

 ranges and what methods should be used to bring the badly over- 

 grazed areas back to their original state of productivity. These 

 investigations were carried on cooperatively between the Bureau of 

 Plant Industry of the United States Department of Agriculture and 

 the Washington Agricultural Experiment Station from that time 

 until January 1, 1904, when the experiment station withdrew. Since 

 that time these investigations have been carried on independently 

 by the Bureau of Plant Industry. 



In the early nineties the ranges Avere very much overgrazed, and 

 owing to the overcrowded conditions were deteriorating very rapidly. 

 In 1896 the Northern Pacific Railway Company, in order to alleviate 

 these conditions, which by that time had become very serious, insti- 

 tuted a system of leasing the railroad land, or odd sections, of the 

 grazing areas to the stockmen. The motive in leasing this land was 

 to prevent the destruction of the native forage plants of the grazing 

 areas, which meant the removal of the stockmen from that region 

 and a consequent loss of traffic to the railway company. The first 

 lease of this kind Vas issued on July 1, 1896. Between that date and 

 June 13, 1903, over 300 leases, embracing about 1,500,000 acres of land, 

 were issued, and at the present time the greater part of these ranges is 

 under the control of private individuals. 



While this system was bitterly opposed by some of the stockmen, 

 it really proved to be of great benefit to the State at large, as it 

 enabled those people who had homes in the grazing country to secure 

 control of the railroad lands about them by means of a lease, and thus 

 protect themselves from the ravages of nomadic stock. The more 

 progressive stockmen immediately availed themselves of this oppor- 

 tunity. The nomadic stockmen — to protect themselves from each 

 other and to prevent being forced out of the country — also leased 

 grazing lands sufficient for their needs. Had it not been for the large 



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