^D'fPARTM E N T 

 or AGRICULTURE 



a 



I'D ^'^-^v^'wiTH UNCLE 



SAM'S NATURALISTS 



ANITOUNCSMENT: Every two weeks at this time our Wilds Man tells us about his 

 visits with Uncle Sam's Naturalists. Today he has promised to tell us what Mr. 

 C. S. Rachford, in charge of the grazing branch of the Forest Service, has to 

 say about ran^-e for wild animals — Well, Mr. Wilds Man— What about range for 

 wild animals? 



Of course, we all know big game animals; such as deer, and elk, and moose, 

 and i-aountain goat, and mountain sheep, and antelope; need range. They must 

 eat to live. 



^3ut I dare say, most of us think all we have to do is to set aside a bit 

 of wild country, shut out the hunters, and then let Nature take its course. 

 But from what Mr. C. E. Rachford tells me protecting big game is not so sim-ole 

 as it may seen to some, 



Bachford is in charge of the grazing branch of the Forest Service, and 

 ne has found that there are several problems in providing range for big game. 

 And in order to find the answer to those problems, we must know more about the 



of the animals than has ever been known by those most familiar with their 

 ways. And we must not only know more about the animals, but more about the 

 plants tney feed on. 



All these years, you might say, we have been crowding wild animals off part 

 tL r^'^."'^"^''' °^ "^i^" Sanie animals have always had summer and win- 



ter leeaing grounds. As a rule, in the sura;ner, they have fed on the higher 

 Slopes and in winter moved down to the lower country; the valleys and the low 

 raiis. ant due to settlement and overgrazing and overstocking of cattle on 

 public lands outside the National Forests, the winter range has been seriously 



big'^e ^ro^^uln!' ''''''' ^^^^^^"^^ - 



hunte^'anrj^rpj^f °^ "'^^^ f ''"^^ ^iven protection from 



^r^^^'o^ animals, it usually increases fast. In fact, the numbers 



Then tH?i\'''^''^f-^ !° ^"^^h ^or all of them, 



ce??ain L^^f ^° 71' ''^^ happened in the case of our elk and deer ±k 



certain areas. Some of the animals had to be removed to save the rest. 



trev ^^^"^ S^* to the starving stage, 



tney may damage the range so it won't support as many game animals as it lid le^ 



Ir ll./Z : ^ "P^^i^s ^^o'^se known as the cliff rose forms the great- 



is iZf fLl ""r '""PP^y ^"^^ northern Arizona. The cliff rose 



flfZT ^ i t""* "^^"^ to less desirable vege- 



conlf^/? l^^-^"" " '^^^-^ same animals get to eating the young 



conifer timber sprouts, <y^^'& 



littir!h'"?iT ^oV?"* ^ "^'^^ ^^'^ balance of nature may lead in a 

 directirf;!: a ^'''''^ *° conifer timber reproduction has been 



to 'eek thi 1 . ^^^^ ^i"^^ to their being forced 



to oeek the less palatable fead. because of the abnormal decrease in their nun^ 



