N"ATION"AL FOEESTS AND THE INTEEMOUNTAIN EEGIOX 



13 



tration of the Department of Agriculture, steps were everywhere 

 taken to apply a system of management and fire suppression, which 

 aimed to conserve the forage and eventually restore the productivity 

 and stock-carrying capacity of the ranges. The numbers of stock 

 were gradually reduced where there were too many, the ranges were 

 divided into different allotments for different owners, and the whole 

 summer stock-raising business was placed upon an orderly basi^ 

 under Federal control. 



DAXGEKS OF OVERGRAZING 



Unregulated grazing has a far-reaching effect in this region, for it 

 not only means disaster to the livestock industry itself through the 

 depletion of the very range necessary to its prosperity, but also 

 threatens the agricultural prosperity of the valleys through the 



P'lGURE 4. — Sheep grazing within a national forest 



destruction of the watershed cover and subsequent erosion of the top 

 soil that is essential for a good vegetative cover. (Fig. 5.) Fur- 

 thermore, overgrazing threatens the continuation of the timber 

 stands ; tiny trees 1 or 2 years old may be trampled to death by the 

 cattle and sheep or nibbled and destroyed when very intensive graz- 

 ing forces the stock to eat every green thing on the range. 



FOEEST MANAGEMENT AS EELATED TO LI^'ESTOCK 



At present the range livestock industry is settled upon a basis 

 firmer than at any time in its history. Stock on the national forests 

 have been reduced where necessary, so that no more are run on the 

 range than can be maintained there jea,r after year without depleting 

 the range resources. At the same time inaccessible regions have 

 been opened by the construction of trails, bridges, and other improve- 

 ments. Range which was useless on account of lack of water has 

 been made available for large numbers of livestock through the 



