Permittees grazing livestock in the national forest are assigned specific grazing allotments, and are required to handle their stock according to approved management practices. Local officers endeavor to stock all ranges conservatively for the purpose of preventing range deterioration which reduces the volume of forage produced and starts erosion.
Grazing permittees are selected on the basis of ownership of improved ranch property which is dependent upon forest range to make it an economic unit. This policy favors the established tax-paying citizen and eliminates the tramp stockman who has no base of operations but exploits the country through which he passes.
In spite of the fact that all ranges adapted to the grazing of livestock have been fully stocked for many years, sufficient forage is reserved to take care of the 3,500 elk, 6,200 mule deer, 750 antelope, 700 mountain sheep, and 250 moose which inhabit the forest.
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High above the clouds on Beartooth Plateau.
RECREATIONAL USE AND VALUES
No single activity of the forest has grown so rapidly in recent years as recreation. The forest is ideally adapted to recreational use because of the rough, majestic, and undeveloped character of its wilderness where most travel must be done with a horse and pack outfit. It is truly a forest with a “back country.” The numerous lakes and mountain streams, the glaciers, the vast forest cover, and the abundance of fish and game are attractions that draw large numbers of people who wish to see wilderness areas unspoiled by the hand of man.
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Mixed virgin stand of Engelmann spruce and Douglas fir.
Wilderness Areas.—Two wilderness areas—the North Absaroka, containing about 380,000 acres, and the South Absaroka, containing about 600,000 acres—have been set aside to insure the perpetuation of the delightful natural and virgin conditions characteristic of the back country in the Shoshone. Entirely undeveloped, except for horse trails and occasional sanitation facilities at camp sites, primeval conditions are comparable to those encountered when John Colter traveled through this country in the early years of the nineteenth century. No roads will be permitted nor will there be any hotels, resorts, or summer homes. Sales of timber will not be made, but the grazing of domestic stock—cattle, horses, and sheep—will be allowed under well-regulated conditions, insuring ample range for big game animals and the protection of the basic soil and water resources.