54 MISC. PUBLICATION 9 0, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 



this has been on the statute books ever since, but was changed and 

 amended at every session of the legislature until 1925, when the 

 present law was enacted. 



For a time bounties were paid from county or general State funds, 

 but in 1907 a special tax on livestock was provided for this purpose, 

 and this means of raising funds has continued until the present. 

 Approximately, $1,000,000 has been paid in bounties in Utah, but no 

 detailed records are available prior to 1913. From 1913 to 1921 

 bounties amounting to $506,930.30 were paid. Bounty funds have 

 all been expended several times and payment stopped until suffi- 

 cient funds again accumulated. 



In spite of everything that could be done, conditions have re- 

 mained so unfavorable that stockmen have appealed to the National 

 Congress for some relief, and a small appropriation was made in 

 1915 for the use of the Bureau of Biological Survey in controlling 

 predatory animals. This fund was later increased, and at present 

 (1930) amounts to approximately $560,000 annually for control of 

 predatory animals and rodents in the United States. 



SOME OF THE RODENTS OF UTAH 



THEIR ECONOMIC RELATION TO THE RANGE AND THE FORESTS 



Utah, along with the neighboring States, has many species of 

 rodents. Limitations of space preclude a complete description of 

 each species. For this reason, only the most important species of 

 each group, from the standpoint of numbers and economic relations, 

 will be mentioned. 



In the case of some of the rodents, man's advent into the scheme 

 of things has had a directly favorable influence. The tendency to 

 eliminate their natural enemies such as the coyote, badger, fox, owl, 

 hawk, and eagle, and to supplement the supply of natural forage 

 with a variety of more succulent food, has thrown the balance in 

 their favor. Other rodents have decreased in number locally by 

 reason of man's encroachment upon their natural habitat. 



GROUND SQUIRRELS 



In Utah are found eight species of ground squirrels (Citellus 

 and C 1 aXlospermophilus) , called also spermophiles (seed lovers). 

 The two most important as to numbers and ranges, and thus of 

 prime economic consequence, are Citellus ar-matus, known locally as 

 the gray ground squirrel, pot-gut, or ground hog, and C. mollis, 

 more commonly spoken of as quimp, sage rat, or desert squirrel. 



The geographical ranges of the two species are quite different, 

 and although mollis occupies a greater area than armatus, much of 

 its range includes that portion of western Utah known as the Salt 

 Lake Desert, where little other than sagebrush and salt grass go 

 to make up the vegetation. However, one must not conclude that 

 this mammal is not a menace to the farmers and ranchers. Along 

 the eastern boundaries of its range, in the fertile valleys of Tooele, 

 Millard, and Beaver Counties, as well as on the range within the 

 national-forest boundaries, its numbers cause real concern. 



The time of appearance in the spring is naturally governed 

 largely by geographical location and elevation. Generally speak- 



