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Show demonstrated very plainly the possibility of restoring badly over- used ranges. Much of our range land is yet in need of immediate attention. The drouth of the past few years, although not the primary cause, has added to the range problem. Game has been blamed by some for the conditions in over- grazed areas, but investigation shows in the main, the areas hardest hit have no game upon them. We refer to those large areas known as the east and west deserts of Utah, areas where the original plant cover has been greatly changed and many of the valuable species replaced by less desirable ones. The excessive grazing practiced is resulting in floods sweeping down, cutting our canyons deeper; depositing debris on the more valuable lands in the valleys; and causing a general decadence to come to our agricultural, livestock, and wildlife interests. Unless we give our soils a more reasonable use and employ better methods of grazing, much of our land is going to pass into a sub- marginal state and this type of land means a sub- marginal people. 88 In spite of this growth in the understanding stockmen have of the need for management, and in spite of considerable progress on much of the range area, the grazing problem is by no means solved. The Forest Service, oldest federal agency to conduct a continuous program of managed grazing, in its later canvasses of the condition of ranges and watersheds in the West, found that many of them were still in a deteriorated condition. Some of these ranges can be much improved, and in fact have been. For example, many range lands under private ownership have been built up or maintained in good condition. In far too many cases, however, damage has been done to the plant cover and the soil mantle. Until these conditions are corrected, no one really should feel that we have surmounted the grazing difficulties or stemmed the tide of forces that bring about deterioration. Some important citizens, however, still express the opinion that domestic livestock are not primarily responsible for serious damage to the 88 Utah Fish and Game Commission, 1940, p. 12. range. It is maintained that as ranges begin to deteriorate, but before serious damage is done, the economics of the situation cause stockmen to cease or lighten the use of the range so that it is an economic impossibility to damage a range permanently through overgrazing by livestock. 89 It is certainly contrary to sound economics to so damage a range, but such uneconomic practices continually occur. This lack of understanding of the basic importance of soil and water on the part of " important citizens" is symptomatic of the entire problem which faces today's restoration program. Research and the gathering of facts have far outstripped public education. The technicians in the agencies devoted to land planning are well aware of the depletion, as are most of the administrators. The difficulty is that the administrators, far from receiving strong public approval and support in any program to restrict range and soil abuse, usually are subject to an intensity of local opposition that is in direct proportion to the extent of their proposed reforms. Thus the problem becomes one of gaining public support to carry out what it is already known should be done. Public realization of the present destruction lags behind our technical knowledge of what needs to be done. In the last analysis, the future of the land and water, of plants and wildlife, of recreation, and of man himself lies in the outcome of a race now under way between the forces of land destruction and the slow growth of public education. GRAZING A BASIN INDUSTRY THAT NEEDS STABILIZATION More square miles in the Colorado River Basin are devoted to grazing than to any other industry. The land is ideally suited to this purpose, but was ruinously depleted in the early days by improper grazing methods and can be restored now only by adjusting the number of animals to the present carrying capacity of the land. The various administrative agencies now in charge of grazing in the basin know what has happened to the soil, water, and forage. They have worked out methods for putting grazing on a sound economic basis that 89 Woods, 1944, p. 881. 76 |