In the open area, jack rabbits have "become a serious pest. The Biological 

 Survey, in 1934, received a petition hearing the signatures of more than 8,C00 

 individuals of eastern Colorado, requesting Government aid in killing jack rab- 

 hits, which were ravaging the meager stocks of forage left after drought and 

 wind had taken their tell. 



The Forest Service recognized that rodent control would "be essential 

 if the Plains Shelterbelt program of planting trees from the Canadian "border 

 to Texas was to he effective, and in 1935 approximately one-tenth of its entire 

 appropriation for the program was expended for rodent control under the super- 

 vision of the Biological Survey. Crews patrolled the planted areas constantly 

 to prevent the gnawing of the seedlings "by jack rahhits and pocket gophers. 



Aid in Erosi o n Control 



The permanent "benefits accruing from the E.C.W. rodent-control program 

 have "been enormous from the standpoint of erosion control alone. An associate 

 range examiner of the Forest Service has the following to say regarding the 

 effect of rodents on erosion in the Boise watershed of Idaho: 



"Ho dents, numerous and spreading over nearly 80 percent of the Boise 

 watershed, have undoubtedly been responsible for no small part of the present 

 erosion. TTholly dependent upon the herbaceous plants for their food supply, 

 their tremendous numbers, along with over-grazing by livestock and unfavorable 

 climate, have been an important contributing factor in depleting this cover, 

 and thus have greatly reduced the protection afforded the soil and subjected 

 it the more to increased sheet erosion. Even light rains on rcdent-inf ested 

 areas are likely to start cutting, which may develop into destructive gulley 

 erosion because of the almost immediate accumulation of run- off s in the myriads 

 of burrows and channels which these animals construct just under the surface 

 of the soil. " 



The control of rodents is vital to the successful operation of reclam- 

 ation projects in the western third of the United States. Rodents, particu- 

 larly pocket gophers, find the -banks of irrigation canals an ideal location for 

 their burrows and runways. These subterranean passageways frequently are the 

 cause of serious breaks in canals, through which the flow of irrigation water 

 is diverted and wasted to flood adjacent lands, destroying valuable crops, 

 and indirectly ruining others by causing delays in delivery of water. Through 

 the E.C.TT. program, C.C.C. crews working under the direction of experienced 

 foremen trained by the Biological Survey have greatly reduced this mena.ee. 

 In the past year alone half a million acres of canal banks and contiguous lands 

 were treated oy C.C.C. rodent-control crews with a thoroughness that will be 

 of lasting benefit to the nation's reclamation projects. 



E xamples of Benefits Derived 



A few concrete examples will illustrate the great good that has resulted 

 from the E.C.TT. rodent-control program. A group of farmers living at Spring- 

 field, Idaho, suggested to the camp superintendent there that the jack rabbit 

 control work done by the E.C.TT. crew during the summer of 1935 might pay the 

 cost of the camp. It is estimated that not less than 600,000 rabbits were 



_ 4 _ 



