14. IR. 211, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 
the national forests in the calendar year 1929, 13,560 
were of this latter kind. 
Homestead settlers and farmers may obtain na- 
tional-forest timber for their own use at the actual 
cost of making the sale. No charge is made to them 
for the timber itself. This is one of the ways in 
which the national forests are made to serve local 
residents. 
RANGE MANAGEMENT OF THE NATIONAL 
| FORESTS 
Along with the timber on the national forests, par- 
ticularly those in the West, there is a great deal of 
grazing land which at present is used every year by 
almost 6,680,000 sheep and goats and nearly 1,436,000 
cattle, horses, and swine. If the 5,703,000 young of all 
kinds (which are not counted or charged for) are 
added, the total number of animals on the national 
forests is about 13,819,000 of all ages. (Fig. 5.) 
Local settlers and stockmen are given first consid- 
eration in the use of the range, just as in the case 
of the other resources, and every man who grazes 
stock on the forest under permit is allotted a certain 
area for the grazing season. Unfair competition be- 
tween the big man and the little man, which in the 
old days worked so much harm, is done away with. A 
good supply of forage year after year is insured by 
not allowing the land to be overcrowded with stock. 
Under regulation overgrazed range is improved, in- 
stead of being further run down or denuded, as has 
been the case with many of the outside public lands. 
WATERSHED PROTECTION 
Undoubtedly the greatest value of the mountain 
ranges of the country, most of which are within 
national forests, lies in their influence upon the regu- 
larity of the water supply. In many of the States 
the mountains afford the main water supply for 
domestic use, for irrigation, and for the development 
of power. The future development of the entire coun- — 
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