12 MISC. CIKCULAR 4 7, U. S. DEPT. OF AGEICULTUEE 



not because this amount of timber had grown during the past 23 

 years, but because of the striking revision that had taken place since 

 1905 in the idea of what timber is merchantable. 



THE LIVESTOCK INDUSTRY 



EARLY CONDITIONS ON THE RANGE 



The earliest settlers in the intermountain region brought with 

 them their horses, cows, and other domestic animals. For a long 

 time they kept their stock on the ranches, a precaution necessary 

 because of the danger from Indians. As the Indian menace abated 

 and finally became negligible — about 1870 in Utah and rather later 

 in Idaho — ^the settlers began to turn their cattle out into the adjacent 

 mountain lands during the summer season, rounding them up in 

 the fall. With the opening of these public grazing areas the sheep 

 industry became increasingly important, and the sheep herds spread 

 through the mountains. In Utah and Nevada, where the mountain 

 range lands were not distant from settlements, the livestock business 

 became very intensive, and the ranges were used by a great many 

 more stock than was good for them. In Idaho, where, in general, 

 settlement was more gradual, the number of stock was much smaller 

 in proportion to the mountain areas than in Utah, and such heavy 

 utilization of the range did not generally occur. 



' WHAT THE FOREST LANDS MEAN TO THE LIVESTOCK INDUSTRY 



All through the region the mountain ranges have contributed 

 immensely to the prosperity of the livestock industry, allowing it 

 to grow much more than it possibly could if it were limited all 

 summer long to the valley lands in the vicinity of the ranches. 

 The latter course would necessitate the maintenance of much larger 

 pasture lands, which in turn would mean less land for the much 

 more remunerative use of producing cultivated crops. Upon the 

 national forests of this region, which include a large part but not 

 all of the summer-grazing lands, 343,510 cattle and horses and 

 2,576,000 sheep were grazed in 1929, not counting animals under 6 

 months old. Allowing for this omission, it appears that about one- 

 third the cattle and one-half the sheep in the intermountain region 

 summer ujDon national-forest range. (Fig. 4.) Horses are, of 

 course, very generally kept about ranches, and consequently the 

 national forests support only about 5 per cent of the total. 



The continued prosperity of this tremendous livestock business, 

 which produces in the intermountain region over $50,000,000 annually, 

 can be maintained only by proper management of the stock on the 

 range. Individual initiative and a desire to expand business inevi- 

 tably lead to the crowding and overstocking of any public ranges 

 the use of which is not regulated. At the time the national forests 

 were created, many of the mountain forests of Utah had already 

 reached this condition. Range wars and unregulated competition 

 were ruining the range, while innumerable fires " to improve the 

 feed " were playing their destructive role. Something had already 

 been done in the way of fire prevention by the Interior Department ; 

 but as soon as the national forests were placed under the adminis- 



