are permitted to graze them (Sampson and 

 Malmsten 1926). This headstart of growth of 

 plants was especially important because, at 

 that time, livestock grazed the range continu- 

 ally once they entered. This initial growth be- 

 came less important with the advent of rota- 

 tion grazing schemes in which any given area 

 of the range is grazed during only part of a 

 grazing season, and is grazed at a different 

 time each year. Related questions in the early 

 studies were how long stock should be per- 

 mitted to remain on range and how fully for- 

 age plants should be utilized. 



James T. Jardine, Inspector of Grazing for 

 the Forest Service, was among the first to state 

 that the condition of animals was not in itself a 

 safe way to judge whether a range was over- 

 stocked (Jardine 1916). In 1915 he wrote that 

 "it had been common practice on privately 

 owned land to put on all the livestock that the 

 range would carry and turn them off in fair to 

 good condition, in the belief that if they came 

 off in satisfactory shape the range was not over- 

 stocked or injured." He commented: "This is 

 true, provided the season of grazing is limited 

 so as to give the vegetation a chance to do more 

 than merely produce a few leaves, which are 

 eaten as soon as they are long enough to crop." 

 He admitted that this theory worked well 

 enough on winter pastures that had been pro- 

 tected during their growing season, and on Na- 

 tional Forest ranges where stock were not al- 

 lowed to graze until vegetation was well along 

 in its growing season, and on some spring-fall 

 range. But, he concluded: "It does not 

 work . . . where the stock are on the pasture to 

 its apparent capacity during all or the greater 

 part of the growing period of the main forage 

 plants. When this is the case the number of 

 stock must be reduced materially below the 

 number which can be kept in good condition, if 

 the pasture is to be kept up." 



Against active opposition the Forest Service 

 has stoutly maintained for more than half a 

 century that the condition of plants and soils is 

 the only sure way to judge condition of a range. 

 Intensive studies of plant behavior and soil con- 

 ditions have confirmed this stand. In discussing 

 proper utilization, Jardine stated categorically: 



When the season of grazing that will give 

 the vegetation the greatest chance to 



grow, consistent with the profitable han- 

 dling of the stock, is decided upon, then, 

 and not until then, can the number of 

 stock a given pasture will carry be consist- 

 ently estimated. It should be determined 

 finally by careful observation of the 

 range, not the stock, over a period of from . 

 3 to 5 years. 



■ Revegetation 



In 1913, even though experiments had not 

 yet demonstrated relationship between sum- 

 mer floods and the denuded high-elevation 

 rangelands, many presumed some such relation 

 existed. Furthermore, increased production of 

 forage obviously was needed. Hence, an urgent 

 initial problem for the Utah Experiment Sta- 

 tion was how to rehabilitate depleted range 

 areas if, indeed, restoration were possible. This 

 problem seemed susceptible of two solutions: 

 natural seeding by native species, and direct 

 seeding with natives or exotics. Assuming that 

 either or both of these treatments were feasi- 

 ble, other questions had to be answered. If 

 rangelands could be seeded naturally, how 

 should grazing be managed to assure mainte- 

 nance of their improved condition? If direct 

 seeding were to be resorted to, what species 

 were best adapted to the high -elevation ranges; 

 when should they be planted; what cultural 

 methods should be adopted; and, assuming suc- 

 cessful rehabilitation, how should these range- 

 lands be managed both for their best mainte- 

 nance and improvement and for providing 

 needed forage for livestock and game? 



Director Sampson believed wholeheartedly 

 in the efficacy of permanent quadrats for 

 studying change in vegetative cover; so he pro- 

 ceeded in 1913 to establish quadrats on the 

 Two-Mile Strip in the Manti National Forest on 

 the Wasatch Plateau (fig. 9). The Two-Mile 

 Strip was an area 2 miles wide at the heads of 

 canyons along the Divide on the Plateau where 

 stock were not permitted until August 20, at 

 which time the earlier forage plants would have 



17 



