RANGE PRESERVATION A X I > EROSION CONTROL. 27 
servers stated that the storm was uniform over the areas under pro- 
tection in the Forest and on the adjoining grazed area. The small 
amount of run-off that occurred on the protected lands was clear 
and the streams were little more than normal in size ; the flow from 
the unprotected and heavily grazed, areas tore out bridges and roads 
and was laden with bowlders, mud, and debris. As a result of the 
inspection, the committee requested that the areas from which the 
floods originated be made a part of the Manti Forest and that graz- 
ing be discontinued until the vegetative cover could be restored. 
From the above data and general observations there can be no 
doubt that the moderate grazing of sheep on the relatively sparsely 
vegetated range upon which the topography, climate, and soil are 
favorable to erosion and upon which erosion is at least in the incipient 
stage, will appreciably increase both the run-off and erosion. This 
increase for a given area will vary according to the closeness with 
which the lands are grazed and the particular methods of handling 
the stock. It is evident that once the vegetative cover has been 
broken up and the soil laid bare, grazing tends to promote rather 
than to retard run-off and erosion. 
PREVENTIVE AND REMEDIAL MEASURES. 
MAINTENANCE OR RESTORATION OF THE VEGETATIVE COVER. 
The need for maintaining the vegetative cover at all times in order 
to prevent destructive floods and erosion, and the importance of 
placing the live-stock industry on a substantial, permanent basis, 
both so far as concerns the range forage crop and the marketing of 
the farm products through live stock, has been shown. It remains 
now to show how and to what extent the vegetation may be utilized 
by live stock year after year without serious destruction of the vege- 
tative cover. The maintenance of a maximum cover of vegetation 
and continuance of grazing are naturally antagonistic at best, and 
unless certain recognized principles of range and live-stock manage- 
ment are put into practice there is danger of impairing the ground 
cover. 
AVOIDANCE OF OVERGRAZING. 
The first precaution is to- avoid overgrazing, which can best be 
accomplished by accurately estimating and then adjusting the number 
of live stock a range unit or allotment will safely carry. Excessive 
grazing will first show itself in the weakened condition or disappear- 
ance of the choicest and most palatable forage plants. This is usually 
accompanied by the appearance of incipient gullies, followed by 
erosion of varying seriousness. If the carrying capacity of the lands 
is promptly adjusted so that there is ample feed for the stock through- 
out the season, the vegetative cover, provided the lands and stock 
are otherwise properly managed, should be maintained indefinitely. 
