SO MISC. PUBLICATION 90, tl. S. DEPT. OF AGKICULTURE 



and streams usually need no special protection or development. The 

 small seeps and springs, however, soon become trampled mires from 

 which stock have difficulty in securing water at all. What they do 

 get is dirty and impure. The seeps and springs can be greatly im- 

 proved by the expenditure of a little money and effort. A fence, 

 which the stock can not penetrate, should be constructed around the 

 spring or seep. The passageway of the water from the ground should 

 be cleared out and tiled or covered over for a short distance with rock- 

 work, or lumber. A trough or pipe should then be used to convey 

 the water to drinking troughs outside the fence. These should be 

 built so that stock can not get into them or destroy them. They 

 should be large enough to supply water to all stock in the vicinity. 

 Heavy galvanized iron makes a good trough. Good troughs can also 

 be made from 2-inch planks. Satisfactory troughs have often been 

 hewed from trees that grew near the spring. Often the develop- 

 ment of springs and seeps makes additional water available, so that 

 it is possible to use areas for grazing that were once unusuable, or 

 to place more stock on a range where the lack of water formerly 

 limited the number. 



STOCK TRAILS AND BRIDGES 



Bridges of some sort must be constructed at stock crossings over 

 streams where the water is very deep or runs very rapidly. Sheep, 

 especially, need bridges for crossing the larger streams. Often the 

 mountain streams are swollen with water from melting snow about 

 the time the herds of ewes and lambs go to the summer ranges. 

 Under such conditions, the cost of bridges is repaid many times 

 in the prevention of losses from chilling and drowning. 



Trails and driveways are often constructed where the country is 

 very brushy or where the hills are extremely steep. The Forest 

 Service has cleared many driveways through the brush and timber 

 where herds travel to and from the summer sheep ranges. In this 

 way, loss of time in sheep trailing is minimized and the injury to 

 the ranges from trailing is confined to as small an area as possible. 

 On the cattle ranges, areas of good feed are often made available by 

 the construction of trails where steepness, dead brush, down timber, 

 ledges, etc., have kept the cattle away. 



WILD ANIMAL PESTS OF THE RANGE AND THE FOREST 



Wild-animal pests are of two classes: (1) The large carnivorous 

 animals that prey on livestock and game and are commonly termed 

 predatory animals, and (2) the smaller animals that feed on or 

 destroy valuable forage and are commonly called rodent pests. 



PREDATORY ANIMALS 



The predatory group includes some forms of the following: The 

 bobcat {Lynx ruff us), the Canada lynx (L. canadensis), the coyote 

 (Canis latrcms), the mountain lion (Felis concolor), and the wolf 

 (G. nubilus). 



BOBCATS 



Under natural conditions, bobcats live in the rough, ledgy, and 

 brushy part of the range, and feed largely on rabbits, squirrels, 



