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Show " . i t "1 "v-..- ... .J ?j " w "lw ' !- ..-';, ; ;r- . : . . '. :- .. : . .; J i,cp.u.iiii- tor nun in-.; suvk lo the National l'or-l.:iul l'or-l.:iul tr id'' summer im hulrs nurkins; the cows ;i, a p.iini sue A Ih Iou- they cuter the forest to assure as-sure U'.vru'is ill-' extra .iule ar cuot sr.iiny; on cull Livestock Grazing is Major Activity on LaSal Mountains 'TMs is thf stvond in a series ser-ies jf H- articles (viveming Forest Sorvioo act i vitios and jreu of interot on the La Si; KiT.U:nS. By Jerry Hofer .Liveivfc gracing is ' ano. tf of the major uses on s:i:f.a!-Forest Land. The Moab Hanger District is divided di-vided into 12 range allotments. allot-ments. They vary in size from 6-tO acres to more than 20.000 acres. Some allotments allot-ments have only one livestock live-stock permittee while others have as many as five. Last year more than 3,500 cattle mnl 1,00(1 sheep r;nred Fwr. esl l.aml ahuut lour niiinllis ilurinji the summer.' lOaeh Ki'a.'ini; iillolinent is .si'naraleil from the ailjneent allotment hy fenees or n.ll-ural n.ll-ural harriers. The pennittees livestock ura.e the same al-loiment al-loiment eaeh year anil Xri not allowed on any other al-lolmeiit. al-lolmeiit. Most allolnumls are divided hy fenees into pas- lures or grazing units. Hy doing this, livestock can be The pastures can also be alternately al-ternately grazed or rested. An allotment Management Plan is developed, for allotment.' allot-ment.' This plan ' gives the past history, boundary, estimated esti-mated potential grazing capacity cap-acity and long term - objectives. object-ives. It then goes into detail as to how these objectives will be attained. Any' improvements, im-provements, such as reseed- . ing, fences or water troughs needed to improve manage-.rnent manage-.rnent or increase ' capacity are put into this plan. Construction Con-struction of these improvements improve-ments is done by the Forest Service, the permittees, or coopratively. Maintenance of the fences and water troughs is the permittees responsibility. responsibil-ity. The maintenance is done annually before the cattle are put on the mountan. In addition ad-dition to maintaining the fences and water develop, merits, the permittees provide pro-vide salt and ride to herd the cattle throughout the sum-. sum-. mer. Any reduction needed on the allotment is also put into the Plan. An annual Plan of Use is written spelling spell-ing out just how the' allotment allot-ment is to be grazed each year. The cattle are counted -and- i dye marked before they are turned on the Forest. The cattle on adjacent allotments are dye marked on opposite sides. This is to give Forest Officers an easy way to check if the cattle are. kept : on the designated - allotment. ; If any unmarked cattle are seen on a marked allotment, Forest Service personnel know they do not belong and take action to have them removed. re-moved. The cattle are put on the mountain 1 between June 1 and July 1 and are removed remov-ed about October 20. The allotments are'inspecf-ed are'inspecf-ed periodically- and .about September 1 the Forest Service Ser-vice - representatives ' and permittees get ' together to take utilization studies. These studies show which areas of the allotment are overcrowded overcrowd-ed and which' areas could be grazed more. The studies also al-so indicate if the . allotment is properly stocked. . The overall management of ' the livestock when they are on the National Forest is the permittees responsibility. The optimum potential of the ' allotments is only attainable attain-able .through cooperation between be-tween the Forest Service and the permittees. |