Ground Truth: Forest Service Research · Episode 4 of 10 · 25 min
How Utah Mudslides Invented Rangeland Ecology
Floods and mudslides from overgrazed Utah mountains sent Forest Service scientists into Ephraim Canyon, where they invented rangeland ecology. Arthur Sampson became the first American called a range ecologist and developed deferred and rotational grazing. The work also set federal authority over grazing against local ranchers, a friction that runs through the rest of the story.
Who's who
- Arthur W. SampsonFirst director of the Great Basin station; father of range management
Where it happens
- Santa Rita Experimental Range, ArizonaDesert grassland set aside in 1903 for grazing research
- Ephraim Canyon, UtahSite of the Great Basin Experiment Station, 1911
- Manti, UtahTown repeatedly buried by mudflows from overgrazed slopes
- Jornada Experimental Range, New MexicoArid grassland research range set aside in 1912
Timeline
- 1897Congress authorizes the Forest Service to regulate grazing on forest reserves
- 1903Santa Rita Experimental Range established
- 1911Great Basin Experiment Station site chosen in Utah
- 1912Sampson becomes first director; Jornada range set aside
- 1923Sampson publishes the first college range management textbook
- 1934Taylor Grazing Act ends free open access to remaining public rangelands
Still debated
How much grazing, versus drought and geology, caused any given flood is hard to settle. The deeper question is whether science that justified limits on grazing was also seen as legitimate by ranchers.
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