14 MISCELLANEOUS CIRCULAR 94, U. S. DEPT. OP AGRICULTURE 



lated grazing has gradually revived the worn-out and depleted 

 ranges; new pasturage has been opened in arid localities by the 

 development of water. In certain regions plants which are poison- 

 ous to stock have been eradicated, and gradually the number of both 

 cattle and sheep that graze on the mountain ranges has increased. 

 Of the 19,000,000 acres of Government forests in the California dis- 

 trict, 11,000,000 acres support forage and are grazed each year by 

 200,000 cattle and horses and 500,000 sheep and goats, returning a 

 revenue in grazing fees to the United States Treasury of about 

 $185,000 annually. 



Including the patented land within national forests, there are now 

 approximately 24,000,000 acres of grazing land under Forest Service 



SHEEP IN A HIGH SIERRA MEADOW 



The mission padres brought sheep to California in 1773. Since that time the industry 

 has grown and spread until to-day more than half a million sheep and goats are grazed 

 on Government land under permit 



regulation. There are 18,000,000 acres of public domain outside the 

 national forests without any form of grazing regulation. Of the 

 27,500,000 acres of land in farms in the State, only 11,878,000 is 

 improved, the remainder being used largely for grazing. 



RECREATION 



Although national forests are created primarily to maintain in a 

 permanently productive and useful condition lands unsuited to agri- 

 culture but capable of yielding timber, water, and forage, there is 

 another resource which is always present — recreation. Where there 

 are areas of special " wilderness " or scenic value the policy of the 

 Forest Service is to allow the proper and orderly utilization of 



