The Battle for the Range
Federal scientists head to Eastern Washington to investigate the environmental toll of overgrazing by sheep.
Early this month, Dr. David Griffiths, assistant agrostologist of the Department of Agriculture, will go into Eastern Oregon and Washington to study the range problem and continue investigations he began last year. His work last year was more in the nature of exploration than experimentation. He discovered that many of the valuable ranges are being utterly destroyed because of over-grazing by sheep. The owners of the sheep, in numerous instances, apparently have no concern for the future and use no discretion in controlling their flocks. One of the important works ahead of Dr. Griffiths is to determine, by experimentation, what sorts of grasses are best adapted to the several range sections of Eastern Oregon and Washington. He wants to find a hardy grass that reproduces readily and can withstand the dry climate. Efforts will also be made to restore parts of some of the ranges that have been destroyed in the past through the carelessness of the sheepmen. Dr. Griffiths says there is no denying that the sheepmen, and not the cattlemen, are responsible for the overgrazed condition of the ranges. The work is in line with a desire to formulate sufficient reliable data to enable Congress to enact a law governing the use of public grazing lands.
“Dr. Griffiths says there is no denying that the sheepmen, and not the cattlemen, are responsible for the overgrazed condition of the Oregon and Washington ranges.”
The tension between public land management and private industry remains a central theme in the American West. Today, these debates have shifted from sheep versus cattle to the broader impacts of climate change and water rights on the high desert.
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