GRAZING FACILITIES ON PUBLIC LANDS WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 1926 UNITED STATES SENATE, COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC LANDS AND SURVEYS, Washington, D. C. The committee met, pursuant to adjournment on yesterday, at 11 o'clock a. m., in the committee's hearing room in the Capitol, Senator Robert N. Stanfield (chairman) presiding. Present: Senators Stanfield (chairman), Smoot, Norbeck, Cameron, Oddie, Dale, Means, Williams, Kendrick, Walsh, Pittman, Dill, and Ashurst. The CHAIRMAN. The committee will be in order. Mr. Chapman, will you come forward. STATEMENT OF HERMAN H. CHAPMAN, NEW HAVEN, CONN., REPRESENTING THE SOCIETY OF AMERICAN FORESTERS The CHAIRMAN. Will you give your name, address, and whom you represent, to the reporter? Mr. CHAPMAN. Herman H. Chapman. Representing the Society of American Foresters. New Haven, Conn. The CHAIRMAN. What is the Society of American Foresters? Mr. CHAPMAN. They are the professional society corresponding to the engineering societies and medical societies, representing professional forestry in this country. It is the only professional society of that kind in this country representing foresters. The CHAIRMAN. You have a statement that you desire to make to the committee, Mr. Chapman? Mr. CHAPMAN. Yes, sir; just a brief statement. The Society of American Foresters, by action at the annual meeting, protests against the principle of conferring by law any form of vested or property right upon the permanent users of the range. These rights cover grazing fees, preferences, length and conditions of permits, reductions, and adjustments. Our protest is based on the following grounds: 1. The Secretary of Agriculture now has by his own admission (see annual report of Secretary of Agriculture, James T. Jardine and press release of December 5, 1925) full authority to regulate grazing on the national forests, and does not require additional legislation for this purpose. 2. Such additional legislation would be inimical to the purpose and intent of the national forests as established by the law of June 4, 1897, which are the preservation of the forests and protection of watersheds. I have in connection with these statements certain exhibits which I would like to introduce into evidence. The CHAIRMAN. You may do so, without objection. Mr. CHAPMAN. This is Exhibit A, which I should like to introduce at this point. The CHAIRMAN. What is the exhibit? Mr. CHAPMAN. Exhibit A is copy of a letter of the Secretary of the Interior to the President, dated February 8, 1897, in connection with the letter of June 4, 1897, transmitting a report by the National Forestry Commission to the National Academy of Sciences, recommending the establishment of additional forest reservations. This is an extract from that letter touching the question of grazing. I Ishould like to introduce it. The CHAIRMAN. Without objection it may be made a part of the record. (The extract from the letter of the Secretary of the Interior, presented by Mr. Chapman as Exhibit A, is as follows:) EXHIBIT A NOMADIC SHEEP HUSBANDRY Nomadic sheep husbandry has already seriously damaged the mountain forests in those States and Territories where it has been largely practiced. In California and western Oregon great bands of sheep, often owned by foreigners who are temporary residents of this country, are driven in spring into the high Sierras and Cascade ranges. Feeding as they travel from the valleys at the foot of the mountains to the upper alpine meadows, they carry desolation with them. Every blade of grass, the tender, growing shoots of shrubs, and seedling trees are eaten to the ground. The feet of these "hoofed locusts" crossing and recrossing the faces of steep slopes tread out the plants sheep do not relish and, loosening the forest floor, produce conditions favorable to floods. Their destruction of the undergrowth of the forest and of the sod of alpine meadows hastens the melting of snow in spring and quickens evaporation. The pasturage of sheep in mountain forests thus increases the floods of early summer, which carry away rapidly the water that under natural conditions would not reach the rivers until late in the season, when it is most needed for irrigation, and by destroying the seedling trees, on which the permanency of forests depends, prevents natural forest reproduction and therefore ultimately destroys the forests themselves. In California and Oregon the injury to the public domain by illegal pasturage is usually increased by the methods of the shepherds, who now penetrate to the highest and most inaecessible slopes and alpine meadows wherever a blade of grass can grow, and before returning to the valleys in the autumn start fires to uncover the surface of the ground and stimulate the growth of herbage. Unrestricted pasturing of sheep in the Sierras and southern Cascade forests, by preventing their reproduction and increasing the number of fires, must inevitably so change the flow of streams heading in these mountains that they will become worthless for irrigation. Other parts of the country have suffered almost as seriously from the nomadic sheep industry. Great flocks are wintered in the sheltered canyons of Snake River, and then spreading through eastern Oregon have destroyed the herbage of the valleys and threatened the forests on its mountain ranges; and sheep raised in eastern Oregon and Washington are driven every summer across Idaho and Wyoming to markets in Nebraska and Dakota, eating bare as they go the pastures of ranchmen and carrying ruin in their path. In every western State and Territory the nomadic sheepmen are dreaded and despised. Year after year, however, they continue their depredations. The actual loss this industry inflicts on the country annually in thousands of acres of burnt timber and in ruined pasture lands is undoubtedly large, although insignificant in comparison with its effects on the future of moun tain forests, the flow of streams, and the agricultural possibilities of their valleys. From a recent statistical abstract of the Treasury Department it appears that there are 5,958,348 sheep in the three States of Washington, Oregon, and California, producing annually about 16,000,000 pounds of wool, net weight, worth now in eastern markets about $5,000,000. The net profit from this industry in these States must therefore be small, and its commercial importance is certainly insignificant relatively to the injury it inflicts on the country. The Government, in permitting free pasturage on the public domain to sheep owners in the public-land States and Territories, clearly commits an injustice to persons engaged in this industry in other parts of the country, who are obliged to own or hire their pastures. The pasturage of sheep on the national domain has been so long allowed, however, that the men who benefit by it have come to believe that they have acquired vested rights in the public forests, and their trespass can only be checked by the employment of vigorous measures. That the public domain can be freed from the encroachment of sheep herders has been demonstrated in the Sierra, General Grant, and Yosemite National Parks in California, from which small detachments of troops have easily removed them. Members of committee: CHARLES S. SARGENT. A. AGASSIZ. WM. H. BREWER. ARNOLD HAGUE. GIFFORD PINCHOT. Mr. CHAPMAN. Point 3: Extensive grazing damage has already occurred on the national forests in spite of the authority of the Secretary to regulate this grazing. If this authority is weakened the damage will increase, and if set aside-that is, if the authority of the Secretary is set aside-there is nothing to prevent the ultimate destruction by sheep and cattle of the forest cover on the entire area included in these grazing allotments. I should like to offer a detailed account of the character of this grazing damage as Exhibit B. It is entitled "Report of H. H. Chapman on damage caused by grazing in national forests in Arizona and New Mexico." The CHAIRMAN. Without objection it may be made a part of the record. (Exhibit B presented by Mr. Chapman is as follows:) EXHIBIT B REPORT OF H, H. CHAPMAN ON DAMAGE CAUSED BY GRAZING IN NATIONAL FORESTS IN ARIZONA AND NEW MEXICO The Southwestern Forest Experiment Station at Flaffstaff, Ariz., under G. A. Pearson, undertook the investigation of damage by grazing nearly 20 years ago. Previous to this John B. Leiberg in 1904 had published definite and emphatic statements as to this damage, in United States Geological Survey Professional Paper No. 22, on the San Francisco Mountain Forest Reserve. Pearson's circular 174, Forest Service, United States Department of Agriculture, appeared in 1909 reiterating the facts observed by Leiberg. This resulted in a protest by the branch of grazing, emphasizing the possibility of adequate control by area, season, and numbers and demanding that it be given charge of the investigation on the basis that it was a matter affecting grazing, which could not adequately be determined except by grazing men. Pearson, the Silviculturist, was deprived of authority over this investigation and R. R. Hill undertook to carry it on. After eight years, in 1917, Hill's report was published, reiterating and substantiating Pearson's findings of damage by sheep grazing. During this time no effort was made to check this damage, but instead the numbers of stock were increased. During the years 1917 and 1918 H. H. Chapman was chief of the division of management in this district. He found no disposition on the part of the district officials to stir up trouble by any effort to act upon the reports of Hill. It had served the administrative purpose of acting as a sedative. Kavanaugh, then assistant in grazing, frankly stated that he dreaded to have the matter stirred up again, as things were then going smoothly, i. e., administrative problems had been put on a basis of practical adjustment, and this status quo was sure to be disturbed if action was demanded on the question of damage to pine reproduction. He, however, interposed no active opposition, and John Kerr, chief of grazing, has consistently cooperated in bringing about as far as possible the administrative adjustment necessary for coordination of grazing with forestry. In 1917 and 1918 it was necessary, in order to initiate actual administrative measures looking to control of damage, to institute still another investigation, this time of a specific quantitative character, to locate definite areas on which damage was occurring, as a basis for inaugurating measures for removing stock from these areas. A report of January 13, 1921, by R. H. Westveld, on sheep damage on the Coconino and Tusayan National Forests contains the findings of this project. On April 27, 1923, C. A. Pearson's bulletin on "Natural Reproduction of Western Yellow Pine in the Southwest" was published as Bulletin 1105 of the United States Department of Agriculture. Pearson had resumed his studies of grazing damage in 1917 and had been assisted by an enormous crop of seedlings in 1918 due to a combination of a seed year with two seasons of rainfall sufficient to permit survival. This statement need not quote abstracts from these various documents, but the matter can be summarized in Pearson's statement, on page 130: "All investigations of damage to western yellow-pine reproduction in the Southwest agree in the conclusion that sheep are responsible for serious damage. A survey of lands logged under supervision of the United States Forest Service on the Coconino and Tusayan National Forests reveals a uniform failure of reproduction, excepting where seedlings started in large numbers in advance of cutting. This failure is not due to improper methods of cutting or to unusually adverse climatic conditions, but primarily to excessive sheep grazing. 66 Data accumulated during the past 10 years show that reproduction can be secured with reasonable certainty under the present method of cutting, provided damage by grazing is eliminated, but that, under any silvicultural system in which grazing is inadequately regulated, reproduction is a gamble against overwhelming odds. Although the situation is less critical in the other national forests such as the Santa Fe, Carson, Lincoln, Apache, and Sitgreaves, there is evidence that on these forests improper sheep grazing may preclude reproduction. The surest solution of the problem is to exclude sheep from areas which are in the process of restocking." Mr. Chapman personally observed extensive damage by sheep on the abovenamed forests and also on the Gila and Datil and Manzano. No area of western yellow pine was free from it, in any portion of district 3 where sheep were grazed by cattle, but in allotments grazed where sheep were excluded, reproduction was remarkably abundant. Wherever this reproduction occurred on an area subject to sheep grazing, it was usually possible to show that such grazing had not actually occurred or had been limited in extent during the period within which the seedlings were susceptible to damage. During the years 1920 to 1925 F. C. W. Pooler, district forester, with the cooperation of the entire staff made a truly commendable effort to bring about reductions and exclusions, and succeeded on a limited area. But in 1924-25 it became increasingly evident that widespread damage had already occurred to the 1918 crop of seedlings, by then 6 inches to 1 foot high. Efforts to cope adequately with this situation resulted in a recommended cut of about 30 per cent in numbers, much of which was needed merely to prevent actual destruction of the range itself. The intended cut, however, was overruled by the forester after a hearing in Flagstaff and a field trip of inspection. The right to make the cut was retained but instead of making it, it was decided that sheep and cattle must first be segregated by fencing to determine the responsibility for the damage where it occurred on areas grazed by both classes of stock. 66 In this decision the forester frankly states that "serious damage has occurred both to the forage and the young timber growth on extensive areas within these three national forests (Tusayan, Coconino, and Sitgreaves) from overgrowing." And in a letter of July 16, 1925, to H. H. Chapman, he states, There is an area principally around Flagstaff and Fort Valley of probably 200,000 acres where for all practical intents and purposes there has been no reforestation for the last 15 to 20 years. This is due primarily to overgrazing," but further states, We can not ignore the consideration due the principal industry and source of employment of the State at the time when this industry is strug gling to maintain its existence. In my opinion, while we must gain ground steadily toward the objective of assured reforestation in this region, we can not carry that to the point of working an unwarranted hardship to an industry long established on the use of these ranges." Since the reductions must now await demonstration of the effects, in damage to reproduction, of these new measures it will probably be impossible to enforce further reductions for several years. Mr. CHAPMAN. Point 4: The history of the relations of grazing and forestry in England, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, North Africa, and Australia show that grazing rights once established are almost impossible to extinguish, and that the existence of such rights is incompatible with forest production. I should like to offer Exhibit C, entitled "The Relation of Grazing to Forests and Forestry in Foreign Countries," a memorandum prepared by P. L. Buttrick for the Society of American Foresters and presented by me. The CHAIRMAN. Who is Mr. Buttrick? Mr. CHAPMAN. Mr. P. L. Buttrick is the secretary of the Connecticut Forestry Association. The CHAIRMAN. Is he a recognized authority? Mr. CHAPMAN. He is a recognized authority on this subject, having spent several years in France serving in the French Artillery, and being decorated, speaks French fluently, is a graduate forester of the Yale School of Forestry, and is thoroughly conversant with the literature and with the facts on the ground, of which this is the testimony. Senator WILLIAMS. May I interpose a question here, Mr. Chairman? The CHAIRMAN. Certainly, Senator. Senator WILLIAMS. Mr. Chapman, where do you live? Mr. CHAPMAN. At New Haven, Conn. Senator WILLIAMS. What do you do? Mr. CHAPMAN. I teach forestry in the Yale School of Forestry. Senator WILLIAMS. What has been your practical experience? Mr. CHAPMAN. My practical experience in connection with this subject, I presume you mean? Senator WILLIAMS. Certainly. Mr. CHAPMAN. Has been as chief of forest management in the United States Forest Service from July 1, 1917, through two years and three months following that date. Senator WILLIAMS. You mean you were attached to some governmental service? Mr. CHAPMAN. I was attached to the United States Forest Service as chief of forest management in district 3, comprising Arizona and New Mexico, and therefore I speak of this from my practical experience in that connection. |