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Show domain. Cattle were first grazed in this area about 1882 with grass "knee high." Numbers increased to a peak of 5,000 head of livestock during World War I. At this time the range was reported to be in a critical condition and seriously eroding. In 1920, grazing use was reduced to 1,320 head for only 5 months each year. But erosion was so severe in 1922 that 20 percent of the stock was removed each year until at the end of 1927 all grazing was ex- cluded. During the period from 1928 to 1935 very little recovery was evident. By 1945, the park had so far recovered as to be- come an important observation and study area for range recovery. Dense grass now covers what was formerly bare eroding areas. Juniper stands, widely noted for their almost complete lack of grass throughout the Southwest, now are succumbing to the invading grass. In 1949, 22 years after cattle grazing wajs terminated, the valley floor, which had been the ranch headquarters area and where erosion had been at its worst, had healed and a mountain meadow grass was developing again. No erosion is now taking place except in some of the unhealed gullies.46 Problems associated with overgrazing.-At pres- ent there are far too many livestock still on the ranges of th.e Colorado River Basin (table 16). The annual production for the whole of the Colorado Basin in live weight pounds of cattle, calves, sheep and lambs, is about one-fifth that of Nebraska and Kansas. A. large area of usable range land is necessary to support one head of range livestock for 1 month. It varies from 7.5 acres in Colorado to 20 acres in Nevada. Table 17 indicates where the livestock of western Colorado obtain their forage. Of great significance is the fact that 49.6 percent of the total animal unit months of forage in Colorado is produced on 4.7 percent of "the area. About 25 percent of the re- mainder is produced in the high mountain forest area or about 25 percent of the area. Among tfcie reasons better management is needed to protect soil and water resources are the following: (1) Ovearstocking has resulted from competition for grazing opportunities and lack of knowledge of the amount of use the range will support. (2) Poor- distribution of livestock-allotting live- stock to ranges on the basis of "average" forage crop on the total acreage-has led to undue concentra- *"Paul L. IBalch, National Park Service, Proceedings, Federal Intej-Agency Sedimentation Conference, Salt Lake City, 1^50 424 TABLE 16.-Cattle and sheep numbers in Colorado River Basin States (average 1924-41 ) 8 o o °- Per- Percent J3 w 31 centage of State State (1,000 lambs head) lal uni head) animal units livestock in basin ttle '3 a u V B ttle a r> ttle eep < U ca U Arizona............ 928 986 1,125 8? 18 100 100 Colorado.......... 1,489 1,556 1,800 17 30 so Nevada............ 378 981 574 66 34 10 New Mexico........ 1,276 2,345 1,745 73 ?7 30 1S Utah.............. 464 2,491 962 48 52 50 70 Total......... 4,535 8,359 6,206 ----- Source: Department of Agriculture. TABLE 17.-Source of forage in western Colorado Hay (cropland) Irrigated pasture... Aspen............ Mountain brush. .. Sagebrush........ Subalpine grassland Pifion-juniper..... Ponderosa pine.... Alpine grassland... Desert shrub...... Greasewood...... Total....... Forage pro- duced Animal- unit months (thou- sands) 1,980 78 480 413 329 257 230 167 iio 86 4,138 Per- cent- age of total 47.8 1.8 11.6 10.0 8.0 6.2 5.6 4.0 2.7 2.1 .2 100.0 Acreage Acres in thou- sands 770 78 2,400 3,400 3,150 770 4,860 1,000 330 1,200 126 18,084 Per- cent- age of total 4.3 .4 13.3 18.8 17.4 4.3 26.9 5.5 1.8 6.6 .7 100.0 tion of animals on the more productive areas of heavier and more palatable forage. Poorly dis- tributed and inadequate water facilities have caused heavy local use. (3) Improper seasonal use of ranges such as graz- ing too early in the spring has been caused by short- age of supplemental feeds during certain seasons of |