The united American : a magazine of good citizenchip., June 01, 1926, Page 14, Image 14

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much as the public range was open and free to all, there was
no law which could be appealed to because all had equal
privileges. Strong-arm methods were therefore frequently
resorted to by the cattlemen to prevent the encroachment by
the great bands of sheep on what was regarded as their
rightful grazing lands.
OVERSTOCKING THE RANGES
Such were the conditions in the eighties and nineties.
Not only were the cattle and sheep grazed in excessive numbers
on the plains but also in the mountains well into the forest
belt. The mountains constituted the summer grazing grounds.
In a large part of the Rocky Mountains and of the eastern
slope of the Pacific ranges the forest is rather open with a
great deal of forage under the trees and in the open parks,
the meadows and the grassy openings on the slopes. Here
were ideal conditions for summer grazing. The cattle were
brought in as soon as the disappearance of the snow per­
mitted and occupied the areas within easy access to the
mountain streams and water holes. Sheep were distributed
even more widely. They followed the receding snow line
progressively into the higher areas. Less dependent upon
water, if there was succulent grass and herbage, the sheep
could be taken to areas beyond the reach of cattle, but they
were also often crowded upon the cattle ranges to the dis­
comfiture of the cattlemen.
The overgrazing of the plains and lower slopes greatly
increased the use of the mountains in summer. Stock was
driven many miles over the mountains because the range on
the lower lands was exhausted. The cattlemen were soon
forced to feed their cattle in winter because the grass that
formerly served as winter forage was consumed in the sum­
mer. By 1890 the injury to the western stock ranges was
very marked. The carrying capacity had been greatly reduced,
and evidences of serious erosion were to be seen everywhere.
The thinning out of the vegetation exposed the soil to washing,
deep gullies were formed that became wide arrayos, and quan­
tities of earth and rubble were swept down upon areas of
good arable land. This occurred in the open rolling plains.
Still worse was the damage in the mountains where the rain­
fall was heavier and torrential in character.
On the high meadows the cattle were allowed to crowd
upon the portions near the streams, tramping out the grass
and destroying the protective willow and .brush along the
water courses. Storms scoured out the cattle trails and greatly
increased the flood waters. The damage by sheep was still
worse. The term “sheeped off” as applied to mountain land
had a very real significance. It was the custom to establish
a headquarters when the sheep were bedded down at night.
Each day they were driven out to fresh forage, and for miles
about these points the ground was denuded of its vegetation.
What was not eaten was cut by the sharp hoofs of the sheep.
Great clouds of dust marked the passage of a band of sheep
that left a trail of bare ground stripped of its protective
cover. These were ideal conditions for erosion when the
storms came. The pulverized soil was easily washed and the
material that filled many an irrigating canal reservoir. Young
seedlings of forest trees were destroyed in the path of the
sheep bands, ripped up, trampled, and broken; and when the
sheep had scant feed as often happened with the progressive
over grazing they had nipped off the small seedlings, crip­
pling or killing the plants. Is it any wonder that the ir­
rigators protested against sheep grazing and that the people
of California in the early days of the forest reserves insisted
that sheep grazing in the public forests of that State should
be prohibited?
ESTABLISHMENT OF THE PUBLIC FORESTS
The establishment of the forest reserves introduced a new
factor in the grazing situation. These areas were set aside
under the authority of Congress granted in 1891. Their pur­
pose was to provide for the production of timber and to
protect the slopes and the sources of water. Inevitably the
areas required for these public purposes included a large part
of the summer grazing lands of the West. With small begin­
nings the area of the reservations was progressively increased
until the system of national forests now compromises in the
United States, exclusive of Alaska, about one hundred and
thirty-five million acres. Approximately ninety million acres
of this vast estate carry some forage suited to the support
of livestocks A considerable part of this range had, prior to
AMERICAN
June 1926
its reservation, been used by stockmen, chiefly for summer
grazing.
As soon as the forest reserves were placed under adminis­
tration the government had to face the problem of controlling
the grazing which under the current methods of handling
stock had been demonstrated to be injurious to forest perpet­
uation and a menace to the interests of water users.
OPPOSITION BY THE STOCKMEN
The inauguration of a system of grazing control was
brought about in the face of the most intense opposition of
the stockmen, In the early days it was alleged that there
was the same right to graze stock on the forest reserves as
on the public domain. The question of the right of the
government to exclude sheep had to be tested in the courts
before trespass could be halted, Considerable progress had
been made toward a reconciliation of the industry to the idea
of regulated grazing when the Forest Service in 1906 es­
tablished the principle of a fee. This plan was met with
vigorous protests. Again the legal right of the government
to charge for grazing privileges was challenged and the
courts were called upon to pass on the question. The final
decision was made by the Supreme Court in 1911 definitely
supporting the authority of the Forest Service to charge for
grazing pivileges on the national forests.
THE NATIONAL FOREST SYSTEM PROVES A SUCCESS
Meantime the system of regulated grazing was proving
its value to the local stockmen. Progressively thousands of
permittees were seeing its benefits and giving their hearty
cooperation to the Forest Service. Some of the livestock
associations continued, however, to criticize and to pass ad­
verse resolutions. The success of controlled grazing was ex­
pressed in the improvement of the range, the widespread re­
duction of damage by erosion and floods, the condition of
stock ranging the forests, the certainty on the part of the
grazing permittee that he would be protected in the use of
the range, the actual increase in the value of ranch property,
the improvements on the forests built by the government in
connection with water supplies, roads and trails, drift fences
and the like, the work of eliminating poison weeds, the de­
struction of noxious vermin and predatory animals, and the
protection given to the small stockman. All this gave stabil­
ity to the industry and reacted to sound development. The
Forest Service brought the permittees into the administration
by a system of cooperative or advisory boards. Over six
hundred such boards have been in existence for some years.
Through this system it has been possible to establish regula­
tions for the improvement of the breed of stock, to introduce
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