| OCR Text |
Show Has Sought the Fairest Possible Distribution of Grazing Privileges By SECRETARY W. M. JARDIXE, Annual Report. DUKLVG the last year the viewpoint has been expressed by representatives repre-sentatives of the range live stock industry that the status of grazing as a permanent and desirable use of the national forests for-ests should be defined by legislation and not left, as at present, to the exclusive control of the Department of Agriculture through administrative ad-ministrative regulations. Thirty-one thousand live-stock owners range approximately 1,800,000 cattle and 6,500,000 sheep in the national forests for-ests for varying portions of the year. These represent about 20 per cent of the cattle and 23 per cent of the sheep in the 11 Western states, and with their dependent ranch investments constitute an important part of the economic structure which the national forests should sustain. The department has sought the fairest possible distribution of grazing graz-ing j.rivileges in which the old user has been protected as far as consistent with affording reasonable opportunity for the settler and small rancher to establish his home and develop his means of livelihood. . It- was felt that the settler who was engaged in developing from raw land a new farm unit contributing to the food supply and wealth of the nation and who in this process needed the related use of national forest grazing resources re-sources should be granted such use even though that necessitated a reduction re-duction in the privileges of the established occupants of the range. As a result of this policy the number of range users has increased since 1909 by nearly 25 per cent and the national-forest ranges now con-'tribute con-'tribute to the maintenance of approximately 4,500,000 acres of cultivated land and 22,000,000 acres of grazing land in private ownership. |
