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Show RANGE IMPROVES AFTER RAINS Recent storms thruout the area of the Fillmore District have been beneficial and helpful help-ful in a small degree, easing the drought situation, said Lowell J. Udy, district manager man-ager of the Fillmore office of the Bureau of Land Management. Manage-ment. Vegetative conditions thru-uut thru-uut t!ie district have generally been ample to supply the necessary ne-cessary forage for livestock and wildlife on the winter ranges, but forage supplies on prirg and summer allotments may be short unless more fav- able forage for livestock and game animals. Sprays selected for use in the Minersville area are selective enough that they will kill the sagebrush species but are not harmful to the bitterbrush plants which are vital for deer forage in the area, Mr. Udy said. Land ana mineral aetiviMe:; within the Fillmore District continue to create items of interest. in-terest. Mineral activities in the Topaz area of the Fillmore Fill-more district have recently reverted to the "Days of the Old West." This condition is unusual, however, when considering con-sidering the values of beryllium beryl-lium and the method of filing claims, this condition is understandable, un-derstandable, Mr. Udy said. from these Prog")8; . p w Thus far under the A P w programs the Fillmore District L completed some 14m rtes of fence, five cattle guards, and are currently working on six spring developments, 30 mnes of fence, 6 cattle guards SeS3000 acres of -seeding in the Utah and Sanpete County areas. Under the regular district work programs, the Fillmore District is currently circulating circulat-ing bids on 24 miles of fenc- in in the Snake Valley area -pU 5 000 p.eres of sagebrush graying in the Minersville arua. These projects will be helpful help-ful in setting better control of livestock use, and more avail- orable moisture conditions prevail, pre-vail, Mr. Udy said. Livestock and big game counts have been completed over most of Millard and Beaver Bea-ver Counties. Livestock and game animals were generally found to be in good condition. This, to a large, extent, is possibly pos-sibly due to the open winter we have experienced this year. Mr. Udy reported that deer numbers are down somewhat this year, according to the trend count records. This may be attributable to the open winter which has allowed the deer to remain at higher elevations, ele-vations, or the heavy hunting pressure may have made its presence known on the herds. A better appraisal of this can be made after the browse and pellet transects are completed this spring. Current water conditions over the Fillmore District are somewhat below normal. Soil moisture conditions are also somewhat below normal, and may reduce available water and forage supplies until conditions con-ditions change for the better. The Accelerated Public Works Program in Utah and Sanpete Counties have been very beneficial to the Fillmore District's range improvements programs and the general welfare wel-fare of the respective counties. Much good has been derived |