OCR Text |
Show Range conditions change in southern Utah area for about 45 percent of Iror County's annual agricultura income. A substantia portion of the forage tha produces this livestocl comes from nativ rangeland. In the early days, th lower rolling foothills anc the higher mountain slopes in the county were coverec Do you take your rangeland for granted? Almost everyone does, and has for a couple of centuries -- even here in Iron County. Pioneers first settled in Iron County during the early 1800's, introducing domestic livestock to rangeland. Today, livestock and livestock products account with a dense growth of perennial grasses, a scattering scat-tering of shrubs and forbs. Indian ricegrass and mutton grass were most abundant. Needlegrasses, bluegrasses, prairie junegrass, and wildryes occurred in lesser amounts. Growing with these grasses were balsamroot, wild geranium, yarrow, lupine, hawksbeard, muleseardock, showy goldoneye, and other forbs. Bitterbrush, a very desirable shrub, grew on many slopes and exposures. Sagebrush also grew on many of these sites in lesser amounts than is now present. Scattered patches of big sagebrush and rabbit brush grew on the deeper bottomland soils. A total of 383,492 acres are classified as private rangeland in Iron County. Ownership of land, by acreage, is: National Resource Land (BLM), 968,187 acres; National Forest, 238,148 acres; State, 130,493 acres; deeded, 747,296 acres. Potential forage production on range varies from 900 pounds to 6500 pounds per acre, depending on soil depth and rainfall. At the present time, large areas of once high forage-producing forage-producing bunchgrass range has been replace with a dense stand of cheatgrass and annual weeds. These annuals have a low forage value during a short period in the spring, and are a fire hazard during late spring, summer, and fall. They are not as desirable as the original bunchgrasses because they are not dependable. Other areas have become so thickly covered with sagebrush and annual weeds that grazing values have been greatly reduced. Soil erosion can be serious when range vegetation is not managed properly. Often, insufficient plant residue is left to maintian the soil or control runoff. Heavy runoff has carried away fertile topsoil and produced gullies on many poorly managed ranges. Lack of adequate vegetation causes flooding which carries sediment and reduces the quality of fisheries. You are invited to contact the E and I Soil Conservation District or local Soil Conservation Con-servation Service (586-2429) for help on your specific rangeland or grazing problems. |