Our national forests

by Richard H. D. Boerker

The characteristic habits of sheep and cattle require that they be handled differently on the range. Sheep are herded in bands while cattle are handled in scattered groups. The new and approved method of handling sheep called the "burro system" calls for a burro with the sheep to pack the herder's blankets and provisions. The herder camps where night overtakes him. The herder and his band keep moving over the allotted range from one camp to another until he has covered the whole range. After leaving his last camp he is ready to begin all over again, since the feed near the camp where he began has had two to three weeks' time to grow a new crop. Cattle usually run loose singly or in groups on their allotted range. Usually a range rider is camped on the range to keep the cattle from straying to other ranges. He salts the cattle to keep them on their own range, takes care of cattle that have gotten sick, and takes care of the stock in other ways.

Grazing Districts and Grazing Units. The Secretary of Agriculture not only has the authority to regulate grazing and prescribe the schedule of grazing fees to be charged but he also regulates the number and class of stock which are allowed to graze on each National Forest annually.

The ranges within the National Forests are used by the kind of stock for which they are best adapted except when this would not be consistent with the welfare of local residents or the proper protection of the Forests. For convenience in administration Forests are divided into grazing districts. A typical Forest is divided into from 4 to 6 districts which may be natural grazing units, natural administrative units (coinciding with the Ranger districts), or parts of the Forest used by different classes of stock or parts of the Forest having different lengths of grazing seasons. Each grazing district is also subdivided into smaller divisions, units, or allotments. These are usually natural divisions defined by topographic boundaries, such as ridges, mountains, streams, etc., or more or less artificial divisions determined by the class of stock which uses them. For example, cattle and horses ordinarily graze in the valleys along the streams, while sheep and goats graze the crests of ridges and the slopes of mountains and will cross none but shallow streams. Each range division or unit is usually given a well-known local name, such as "Duck Lake Unit" or "Clover Valley Unit." One or more stockmen may be allotted to such a unit, depending upon the size of the unit and the number of animals it can feed. If only one stockman uses it, it becomes an individual allotment. Usually a sheep owner with several large bands of sheep is allotted one large unit adapted to sheep grazing, while a large unit adapted to cattle and horses may be allotted to one large cattle owner or to two or more smaller owners. The manner in which sheep and goats are handled makes individual allotments both practicable and desirable.

The boundaries of range allotments are usually well defined. In the case of sheep they are marked with cloth posters. In most Forests range allotments are fairly well settled. Each stockman gets with his permit each spring a small map showing his own range and the surrounding ranges.

Who Are Entitled to Grazing Privileges. The Secretary of Agriculture has the authority to permit, regulate, or prohibit grazing on the National Forests. Under his direction the Forest Service allows the use of the forage crop as fully as the proper care and protection of the National Forests and the water supply permit. The grazing use of the National Forest lands is therefore only a personal and non-transferable privilege. This privilege is a temporary one, allowable under the law only when it does not interfere with the purposes for which the National Forests were created. It is non-transferable because it is based upon the possession of certain qualifications peculiar to the permittee. To understand these qualifications it is necessary to briefly look into the history of the grazing of live stock on the western grazing lands.

Figure 73. Counting sheep as they leave the corral. Sheep and cattle are pastured on National Forests at so many cents per head, hence they must be counted before they enter in the spring. Wasatch National Forest, Utah.

Figure 74. Logging National Forest timber. Santa Fe National Forest, New Mexico.

By long use of the public lands of the United States for grazing purposes, long before the National Forests were created, stock owners have been allowed to graze their stock upon such lands under certain conditions of occupancy, residence, and ownership of improved lands and water rights. This use, continuing through a long period of years, has, in the absence of congressional legislation, been commonly accepted in many communities, even receiving the recognition of certain of the courts. It was allowed under "unwritten law," as it were, only by the passive consent of the United States, but by force of the presidential proclamation creating National Forests, such passive consent ceased, being superseded by definite regulations by the Secretary of Agriculture prescribed under the authority of Congress. Therefore grazing stock on the Forests, as it was done before the Forests were created, is trespass against the United States. Due to the fact that local stockmen have used certain public ranges year after year by the passive consent of the United States, these stockmen are recognized in these localities as having preference rights or equities in the use of range lands. These equities form the basis upon which grazing privileges are allowed.