-s- 



1-15-32 



Hor7 can you stop it? — 7ell, naturally, the first thing you thinlc of is to 

 stop grazing on such land. But in inany cases, grazing helps keep do^ra the 

 danger of fire. For instance, sheep grazing on cut-over Douglas fir lands, not 

 only eat the foliage of many of the plants, but they trample dowa much of the 

 uneaten vegetation. They break up a considerable -art of the dry material left 

 on the ground. They wrk it t^artly into the ground There it can not burn so 

 readily, .-^Jid T7here it is more likely to absorb moisture. To a certain ex tent, 

 therefore the grazing helps to keep dom fire damage. 



It is no simple matter to determine just ho'? far grazing should go for the 

 good of the ranf.;e. Ho'."ever, foresters agree tliat on some t^TDes of land moderate; 

 grazing doesn't seriously interfere v/ith the tree gro^h and -hat little injury 

 may be done is more than made up for by the lessening of the danger from fire. 



They do say that precautions must be tal:en in any event to see that the range 

 is not overstocked and overgrazed, G-razing must be regulated. 



But on many of the ranges, vrhich have already been seriously damaged by fires 

 and overgrazing, just limiting the number of stock permitted on the range uill 

 not be enough to get the range back to its old time capacity to supply good 

 forage. 



Abnormal grazing and repeated fires, you might say, have artificially 

 interfered vrith the pl-'nt life on the r^-nge o.nd clianged its character. For that 

 reason, foresters have been looking into the possibilities of artificially re- 

 seeding range lands. That has already been done successfully on limited areas 

 where growing conditions are above the average. 



Of course, v/hen you come to planting vast stretches of range land there are 

 a lot of practical ^oroblems to be met. Taken by and large, the foresters say 

 it seems reasonable to suppose that native, rild grasses are naturally better 

 suited to grorring conditior.s where they are found. But just vrliat raid grasses 

 seem promising? That is one of the things investigators are nov,' trying to find 

 out. Then, too, there is the question of T7hether enough seed of such grasses 

 can be had at lov enough cost to making so'wing the range to them really 

 practical. 



It may be, the plant experts say, that \7e can actually discover or develop 

 plsnts that are adapted to the less favorable conditions than those found on 

 the motmtain meado'vs, and moist parks, and bottom land along streams vrherc re- 

 seeding is no'7 considered feasible. In fact, they even hold hope for better 

 forage plants than v/e no^ kao'". 



So far, most of the -^ork of reseedin.^ range lands has been Tith cultivated 

 or tame forage plants. And even those have not yet been tested out as fully, 

 or under as many conditions, as seems to be r/arrsnted. 



But much more has been done \7ith those tpme grasses than "ith our '^ild native 

 grasses, ITor do the "i.ld and tame grasses r-0".7 greying in this co"untry include 

 all the possibilities. It may be that in other parts of the '"orld, better fora^:c 

 plants than any rro nc? have may be gro'-ing on ranges under si:ailar conditions 

 to those ~e have in oui' "est. 



The range men say there is a real need for ercploration of the likely range 

 lends in other parts of the earth for better forage plants for our o"n ranges. 

 And there seems to be nothing im-orobable in the idea 'Then you recall tliat 



