WATER, RANGE AND TIMBER

Sheep in Arizona's White Mountains grow fat on the vital grass, where fine forests close in on every hand. Range and forest protection and man-agement is not left to chance in this great state. Careful range supervision prevents overgrazing and results in better crops of livestock as well as a more assured range vield. Generations to come will profit by the work that is now going on and they will reap the harvest of care taken today.

Horses thrive on Arizona's abundant rangeland. Here a sea of grass extends to the horizon. Such land, if left unsupervised, can be ruined by over grazing. As soon as the grass is gone the soil is at the mercy of wind and weather. What would be rich rangeland could in a few years be badlands.

Through the years Arizona has produced food, drink, and shelter for many people. The State has been a good, self-sufficient, though sometimes abused provider since the first citizens found their way into the sunny region in the dim, mysterious past. During the last several decades hundreds of thousands of cattle have roamed and continue to forage upon the seemingly limitless grassland regions, ever in search of food and more food, yielding, in turn, beef and more beef. Millions of feet of the best lumber are taken from the magnificent forest areas. The steadily increasing human population uses added amounts of water for domestic and commercial purposes. There is a strong relationship between the three vital products, water, grass, and trees. Today's demand for food and for the raw products of reconversion has focused attention upon the Big Three and Arizona is in the forefront wherein the supply problem is concerned.

Grazing in this great State has been practically uninterrupted for nearly 250 years and still the wilderness range lands offer their annual grass crops. Forests thrive and vast mountain areas continue to catch and deliver the water that supports all else. At the turn of the century it became apparent that the grass crop was not inexhaustible. The watersheds too began to show the effects of excessive and improper use. Leading conservationists gave the matter considerable attention and believed that with a bit of intelligent encouragement from man, the range lands and forest conditions could be improved in many sections where ill use had caused damage that threatened the fu-ture welfare of the Territory of Arizona as a whole.

Nine years before the Territory became the forty-eighth State, the Federal Government, in 1903, established the first experimental range in the United States, in Arizona's Santa Rita Mountains south of Tucson. In 1908 the first experimental forest-called the Fort Valley Forest Experiment Station-was established near Flagstaff. The pioneer three-point program of studying range, forest, and watershed conditions, with an eye to their preservation and improvement for safe, reasonable commercial use, has gone forward ever since.

The successful effort is of vital concern, not alone to Arizona but to the Nation as a whole. As the work expanded and additional research stations were established, a centrally located headquarters organization, or nerve center, became necessary. This was first established on the campus of the University of Arizona. Then in 1940 the headquarters of this research organization moved atop Tucson's Tumamoc Hill where the famous Desert Laboratory of the Carnegie Institution was once housed. This splendidly equipped institution, now under the immediate supervision of the Department of Agriculture, became the focal point of forest, range, and watershed research, not only for Arizona but for New Mexico and West Texas as well. It is known officially as the Southwestern Forest and Range Experiment Section.

There is plenty of action-packed drama in the work of the experimenters. Their activities take them not only to the established and well known ranch and forest lands but to some of The wildest country on the North American Continent, far from beaten trails, where lions, bears, antelope, and deer are at home. The interests of these men include not alone the production of grass and timber but also the condition of soils, a detailed study of the am-ount of rainfall, and a hundred and one other factors of importance to the preservation of the land itself. Arizona motorists view some of these seemingly endless stretches of land but few realize that a small organization of men is responsible for their welfare.

This activity has accomplished such incidental things as planting grass from airplanes, establishing rain gauges on lonely mountains, only to have them punctured by bears' teeth, and conducting practical experiments to pre-serve the land itself. Stockmen, lumbermen, ranchers, and farmers all seek information to assist in formulating land management plans. The experimenters cooperate closely with State, Federal, and private agencies as well as indi-viduals.

While a certain amount of laboratory work is carried on at the headquarters, its principal function is administrative. Here much of the data obtained elsewhere is crystalized and made available through publication and personal interviews. The experimental forests and ranges are the actual laboratories. They are located in areas where varying conditions prevail so that the findings will apply to individual regions where special and everyday problems of management occur.

Arizona contains 61 million acres of grazing land. The problem of studying this enormous area is a huge one. It is the aim of the researchers to determine how best to use the lands for grazing purposes to produce the highest economic returns and still maintain the basic welfare of the land. The range is an ever-changing, highly variable ocean of plant life where the currents of vegetable growth, like the ebb and flow of the sea, change from time to time in answer to protracted dry and wet spells, long-time climatic variations, grazing, and other factors, producing anything but a stable condition. Each major change in the weather leaves imprints on the range. Only through careful, continuous, and practical research can the difficult but essential information be obtained concerning “what to do” wherein the future productivity of the range is concerned.

Questions to be answered by the investigators are many and include discovering how many cattle should be permitted to graze upon given areas, when, and over what period, to the end that over-grazing and subsequent permanent destruction of range plants may be prevented. Considerable attention is also given to effective ways and means of seeding and transplanting grasses and other forage plants upon depleted ranges.

Continuous range research in Arizona is carried on at the Santa Rita Experimental Range near Tucson where, on a tract of 52,000 acres, studies are now going forward concerning beef cattle management on the semidesert which supports mixed grasses and shrubs. Other research areas include the juniper and browse range sections near Prescott and the pine-bunchgrass regions near Flagstaff. Many additional smaller and more localized study plots on national forests, and other lands within the Southwestern region, supplement the work of the main experimental range regions.

Foreign invasions are not unknown on Arizona's ranges and the undesirable aliens are of the type that work their way in and strenuously resist attempts at eviction. These unwanted foreigners are plants that insidiously move in to occupy valuable land that should produce useful grazing plants, wildlife cover, and food. Some local plants, which are regarded as perfectly all right in their place, also shift over to depleted range land and utilize the nourishment and moisture that should be sustaining the descendants of plants killed by drought and overgrazing. In many areas the indigenous mesquite, burroweed, snakeweed, and cacti are decidedly harmful to grazing. The hardy but unpalatable juniper also invades regions formerly considered as excellent cattle land. Control work for all these and other unwanted plants is a matter of constant concern.

At all centers of investigation throughout the State the effects of the weather, climate, and various livestock grazing practices are recorded and evaluated. This is done through observations and measurements of the changes in the density, type, and vigor of the vegetation, the condition of all important soil, and the weights, condition, and increase of the grazing animals of the region. The researchers also keep careful tabulations of costs and returns as well as other details concerned with handling range livestock. Out on the ranges even the soil moves and notice is made of this strange whim of Nature.

The beautiful and valuable forests of Arizona come in for special attention, too. Their fame as recreational areas is not to be eclipsed by their sterling worth as timber-producing lands. The Forest Management Research branch of the work is occupied with study and resultant action concerning methods and adequate practices of growing and harvesting trees for lumber and other essential timber products. Years are required before the great pines and firs grow to maturity, but they can be logged, burned, or otherwise destroyed in a matter of hours. The 20 million acres of saw timber and woodland in Arizona must be protected, studied, and proper management methods devised if they are to contribute their maximum value in the economy of the Southwest at the present time and in the future. The responsibility for this work falls squarely upon the shoulders of those who carry on forest management investigations at the Station.

At the Fort Valley Experimental Forest near Flagstaff, intensive work has gone forward in all branches of forest management. G. A. Pearson, well known scientist of the experiment station, recently retired, labored for many years to devise adequate and intelligent means of increasing the worth of the forest growth in the Flagstaff area and throughout the State. His interest in the trees is so keen that he speaks of them almost as one would talk about a friend. In one small area alone he made photographs, over a 30-year period, each one from the exact spot as the previous one, to show the growth and development of individual plots of forest land and even of particular trees. To him the magnificent ponderosa pines were lifelong associates and, through his devotion to his work, many are the trees in Arizona that today are strong, tall, and healthy, thanks to human planning and forethought that made their growth possible. The growing and planting of millions of tree seedlings is not the least important of forest management experimental Nerve center for experimental work in the National Forests of Arizona, New Mexico, and West Texas. The Southwestern Forest and Range Experiment Station on Tumamoc Hill in Tucson, Arizona. This is the headquarters for all research, forest, range and watershed management activity.

perimental endeavor. Other major forest stations in Arizona are the Long Valley Experimental Forest near Pine and the Mount Graham station near Safford.

The actual program at these exceedingly interesting and picturesque experimental forests includes the tagging of trees to facilitate future identification and subsequent observations on growth and development, planting of experimental kinds of forest cover, soil study to determine the requisite plant food necessary for maximum growth, and a host of allied activities. Broad objectives are to determine the degree, frequency, and methods of harvesting the timber crops for the greatest good to all concerned and still maintain the reproduc-tivity of the forests. Methods of restoring cut-over land are also put into practice.

An outstanding contribution of the South-western Forest and Range Experiment Station relates to the "lifeblood" of Arizona-WATER. Much of the available supply of the entire State comes from the mountainous country. Maximum amounts of reasonably silt-free wa-ter are vital. Inasmuch as the areas from which the water comes are used for grazing, timber harvesting, homes for wildlife, and other pur-poses, not forgetting recreation, it becomes ap-parent that management of the regions is of leading concern.

High up in the colorful Sierra Ancha Mountains 20 miles north of Roosevelt Reservoir.

In Central Arizona, is located one of the most important research stations in the United States. Its principal activity is to investigate watershed conditions with a view to stabilizing soils that wash down the mountainsides and eventually reach and choke reservoirs, to prevent this enormously destructive erosion, and to devise systems of continuous land use that will stop this same erosion at its source. Throughout the territory occupied by this experimental watershed are many devices to measure the amount of water that runs down the mountainsides during a rain, the amount of sediment in the water, and the effects of water run-off on ground that is well planted or not planted at all. In this way valuable in-formation is gained concerning the amount of soil removed by water under varying conditions. As a matter of fact there are instru-ments present to measure and present an accurate picture of practically everything that goes on during a storm. So delicate are some of the devices that a mouse, running over the machinery, is liable to make a record like a landslide. As a result the various instruments are carefully screened to discourage mice and even insects. The establishment reminds one of a command headquarters on a South Pacific island during a land battle. Miles of wire run to a central building and automatic recording devices, like stock tickers, keep the researchers informed of whatever goes on in the 50,000-acre region. One instantly thinks of telephone wires from the front lines to the commanding officer's post. Incidentally, visitors are welcome at this station and demonstration plots are provided for their inspection. The information gained here, as in other branches, is translated for the benefit of all who have learned to profit from the work of the scientists and the profits are considerable. Discoveries made at the Sierra Ancha Experimental Watershed have been of benefit far beyond the borders of Arizona.

When one drives by or flies over old Tumamoc Hill near Tucson and views the flattopped buildings, one cannot be aware of the work going forward there despite the fact that a guiding road sign reads "Southwestern Forest and Range Experiment Station." The far-reaching influence of the establishment can only be apparent to one who has traveled for many hundreds of miles in Arizona and the Southwest, to view the various activities in progress. Here indeed is the headquarters which make many a home on the forest and range possible. Raymond Price, director of the experimental work in the Southwest, states that the research work must keep pace with present day, greatly accelerated expansion wherein added commercial use is involved. He calls for an increased program of investigation to furnish information needed to make watershed, range, and forest management far more worthwhile and remunerative to the operators, to the end that the natural resources may be forever preserved as an outstanding factor in State and National economy. The investigations go on from day to day and year to year and the results have far outdistanced the fondest visions of those who founded the work years ago when Theodore Roosevelt was in the White House and the atomic bomb had never been thought of. With the tremendous drains upon our National resources in these tumultuous days, the work of the patient forest and range experimenters becomes more important than ever. Theirs is a great responsibility and unfortunately a little recognized field of endeavor that ultimately touches every one of us. We have learned through bitter experience, that we must look to the technician for much that governs the future welfare of our country. They were outstanding in the winning of the war and they must be relied upon to preserve and nurture the dwindling natural values that, after all, are property of us all.