reduction on of manti national forest grazing found necessary in consequence of the conclusive evi dance which has been laid before the of agriculture of injury to agricultural arid nd other inte reef through too heavy grazing of certain watershed a in the manti national forbat in utah secretary wilson has cut down the amount of stock which will be allowed to graze on this forest next year to head of cattle and homes horses end nd 15 head of f sheep thia this is a re u of in the number of cattle and horses and in the number of sheep there has been great apprehension among the tanner and townspeople who live along the streams fed from therie least overgrazing a eno afy fy j their inter wary es r anis apprehension was based on the actual experience of the past he ports parts which have been submitted to rotary tary wilson by officers of the department part ment show that unrestricted graz ing before tha manti national forest was created had very serious results the range was badly overcrowded and abused with the result that the natural covering of vegetation was largely detroy troy the soil was loosened ad conditions favorable to rapid errion were created the high elopes began to gully eo so that when the hevy rainstorms broke upon the mountains the canyons poured down mud laden streams upon the towns and farms with these flood streams were carried down heavy boulders logs and driftwood not only was standing grain graits washed down and fields covered with piles of gravel and other debris but streets and lawns were overflowed with water which on its retreat left behind it a thick layer of offensive otien sive sediment water supplies for domestic ura ure were contaminated from the pre presence jence of alock stock on ad the watersheds as well as from soil soll wash the towns of u ephraim mount pleasant huntington orange ville ferron and salina were severe autler ers while the city of manti which is located directly at the mouth uth of the canyon and close to the baso of the hills suffered suffer cd d damage i ic luding depreciation of property bet veen 1896 and 1902 estimated at from iao 70 to lat spring chief forester graves visited ephraim aal was impressed by tha the seriousness of the conditions on the seriousness of the conditions on the manti forest the prohibition of grazing in the manti canyon in 1903 had apparently parent ly contributed to the great re duclion du iLion tion of damage by floods to the city of manti to ascertain whether by a modification of the grazing now per bitted the same protection might be given to ephraim and other town towns he ordered an investigation the outcome of indich is the the reduction now made it was found that in parts of c tie forest conditions were bartrom satisfactory and that some areas have reacted a pont point at which erosion will become biome more and more serious if the I 1 vegetation tation is not given a chance to rt n turn it Is now evident to secretary wilsom that the national forest boffl cra cars in ti air desire not to curtail use of by li stockmen any further than was made absolutely necessary have been too liberal in their recommendations as to the amount of grazing to be permitted the experience in manti mantl canyon Is believed to indicate that the proper restriction of grazing will diminish the volume of flood water waters leduca the an anit nual null property loss toe and add to the general of the country it h ha a consequently bein decided to restrict grazing upon the areas surrounding the headwaters vt 0 the various streams by setting betting asido strip approximately iwo two milea miles in width from froin shih stock will ill b be except fur limited periods in order iu to tike take ibia step it nas ben been necessary to lo reduce the total number of stock d upon the for ast and while th reaction will entail dome and 0 o at numbed of stok krower growers ltd its icen aral resift is a expected expect fd to bo of so 0 o great to the community as a whole that secretary wilson considers can aldra siders no oth er coune course is open but tu to make the f i te