| OCR Text |
Show Range Conditions Reported Good Range conditions on the na-tionl na-tionl land reserve in Utah were reported generally favorable from the livestock standpoint. Soil moisture conditions, as a result of precipitation during February and March, were above normal. Cool weather during the early part of March resulted in slow spring growth of vegetation, but with recent warming days, annual an-nual vegetation is responding rapidly. Excessive runoff occurred in many areas as a result of frozen soils and also because of depleted vegetative cover. Livestock water in reservoirs has been generally ample but is being depleted particularly par-ticularly in the southern parts of the State. Mud, together with damaged roads, has deterred travel in range areas and some winter sheep operators are experiencing dificulty in moving their stock from winter range to spring range. Bridges which have washed out on Willow Creek and White River near Ouray in the Uintah Basin, have created serious prob- lems in the movement of livestock. live-stock. Many side roads are in poor condition. With continued warm weather grazing, particularly of annual grasses, will be favorable and there will be a tendency for stockmen to place their stock on the open range earlier than usual. This practice, however, is discouraged dis-couraged by the Bureau of Land Management which has emphasized empha-sized that spring grazing is the most critical period in management manage-ment of the range forage resource in Utah. Stockmen report about normal losses from winter grazing. In some areas sheep are in poorer than average condition as a result re-sult of abnormal snow cover and ppor grazing conditions. There have been negligible livestock losses from plant poisoning. |
