Appendix Report VEG1 Summary of Grazing for the South Fork McKenzie Drainage Eric Miller 11 July 1994 In researching the of South Fork McKenzie Ive divided the watershed grazing the history into divisions which experienced similar activity North South West Rebel and My records rationale was of to provide continuity from one period to the next Chucksney despite changes in record format allotment herders boundaries names and the of stock type grazed at each This of several Ive transcribed the boundries approximate report is composed parts of the allotments as theyve changed time through on uniform map Figures 1-7 These boundaries from the maps dating between 1921-1955 contained in the annual are grazing summaries located at the Supervisors Office in Eugene OR Ive also provided plastic of outlining my five divisions used in this summary of the description history overlay each division follows while Tables 1-5 list in order the data chronological was able to find These the the allotment descriptions list year the and of stock type number grazed permittee the areas listed on the cards and permit my comments These data were collected from the summaries and maps located in the Willamette Nation Forest Office and Supervisors grazing from the records located in Cabinet grazing 14 at the Forest Service Warehouse in Eugene see Johnson 1985
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Appendix Report VEG1
Summary of Grazing for the South Fork McKenzie Drainage
Eric Miller
11 July 1994
In researching the of South Fork McKenzie Ive divided the watershedgrazing thehistory
into divisions which experienced similar activity North South West Rebel and
My recordsrationale was ofto provide continuity from one period to the nextChucksney
despite changes in record format allotment herders boundaries names and the of stocktype
grazed at each
This of several Ive transcribed the boundriesapproximatereport is composed parts
of the allotments as theyve changed timethrough on uniform map Figures 1-7 These
boundaries from the maps dating between 1921-1955 contained in the annualare grazing
summaries located at the Supervisors Office in Eugene OR Ive also provided plastic
ofoutlining my five divisions used in this summary of thedescription historyoverlay
each division follows while Tables 1-5 list in order the datachronological was able to find
These the theallotment descriptions list year the and of stocktype number grazed permittee
the areas listed on the cards andpermit my comments These data were collected from the
summaries and maps located in the Willamette Nation Forest Office andSupervisorsgrazing
from the records located in Cabinetgrazing 14 at the Forest Service Warehouse in Eugene
see Johnson 1985
becausebeThe numbers of stock cannotgrazed compared from year to the stock wereyear
often on allotments and the allotment boundaries periodically change to suitgrazed multiple
these numbers ofneeds Moreover often stockrepresent the numberthe current range
similarand not the numbers theseactually grazed though numbers areusually very
approved
General Grazing History for the Cascades Grazing of sheep in the Western Cascades
did not until about 1880 1898 inCoville Rakestraw 1993 Herders drove their sheepbegin
theof 1500-2500 from ranges in eastern overbands Oregon the Cascade crest duringusually
meadows In the fall about mid-usuallyandspring into the west-side subalpine and montane
September they would track their sheep back over the Cascades along driveways to
Few herders lived west of the Cascade Crest Oneoverwinter in eastern Oregon
afteryear
the creation of the Cascade theForest Reserve in 1893 driving feeding grazing pasturing or
of cattle prohibitedsheep or other livestock was in the forest reserves It appearsherding
continued 1898 when the forests werethe policy was not untilstrict and trespass grazing
of recommended by Covilleunder after hissystemagain opened to permitsgrazing
reconnaissance of the Cascade forest Reserve in 1897 After 1906 fees were levied for
The of in the Cascade Mountains occurred about the turnallotment use peak sheep grazing
and Pecor 1977 1909-1910 1993 Rakestrawof the centuryca 1900
describes harmonious relations between the Forest Service and herders from 1905-generally
in conflict with recreationall933 In the the 1930s sheep grazing became increasingly
demand The Forest Service to thegenerally gave recreationalists as farof the forests priority
as possible though most of the conflict seems to have centered on the meadowssubalpine
recreationnear the Three Sisters and the many montane lakes In 1939 closure was effected
for the McKenzie River basin from Rainbow to McKenzie Pass and along the South Fork
McKenzie from Rainbow to Frissel of the ElkCrossing and most way up Creek After World
War II sheep grazing became unprofitable in the Cascades Sheep products became cheaper
from Australia and New Zealand Moreover records as early as the turn of the century report
gradual encroachment by trees into meadows Cattle grazing in the Grasshopper/Chucksney
allotments continued until 1976
Descriptions of Divisiofl Histories
North Sheep were trailed into the North division along driveway through the Wickiup
Plains south of South Sister to the Horse Lake Ranger Station and then to the Olallie Guard
Station along the present trail 3530 The Lowder Ridge was generally grazed from the west
end Yankee Mountain to the east end Horsepasture Mountain Kuhns 1917 Kuhns
mentions in this but ofslight pocket gopher activity region no mention rodents at Lowder
Mountain where pocket gopher action today is extraordinary Sheep were grazed primarily
thealong the ridgetops where best forage was The StatementGrazing Policy for the period
1946-1950 describes the Lowder Mtn range as follows Formerly grazed as three individual
units namely Rebel Rock Lowder Mtn and allotments ConiferHorsepasture encroachment
made it necessary to reduce the ofcapacity these three allotment to the ofgrazing only
bands of sheep in 1939.. Elk herds estimated at two to three hundred head graze during the
summer season in this area and it has been given some weight in bothreducing capacity and
seasonal use The area liesgenerally to the west and is isolated from usedheavily
intorecreational when the trailedareas except sheep are being the allotment particular care
should be exercised in Mirror the and Horserouting them by Sisters Meadows Skyline trail
Lake to arouse as little The last theobjection by recreationalists as possible sheep to graze
Lowder allotmentRidge/Horspasture was in 1942
At Mountain and Olallie Guard Station Kuhns makes referenceOlallie to invasion by
in 1916 Past records indicate that the Olallie Mountain has been inlodgepole pine range
thecondition as far back as 1909 andpoor probably overgrazing which is responsible for the
condition of of the took before Erosionplacepresent depleted parts range long that.. is also
to an important in the destruction of theis Inbeginning play part range 1909 artificial
reseeding was attempted here and one acre each was sown to timothy orchard grass
red and awniessbluegrass brome but the successtop experiment evidently was not
Sometime between Kuhns 1916 visit and 1921 the of Ollalievicinity Guard station was
closed to while Olallie Mountain was closed around 1929 However the region stillgrazing
supported sheep until the early 1940s
Rebel The Rebel Rock allotment has confusing history Early maps indicate cattle
allotment and use records indicate it 3-25 headvariously supported cattle from 1915-1922
probably along the lower and the McKenzie basin as the allotment is described inslopes 1922
as very forrough except narrow the alsostrip by river Ingrams 1922 G-Report
indicates that the allotment is better suited to sheep as there was no way to trail cattle into the
Mountain-Rebel Rock range However Ingram states that the Rebel Rock allotmentPyramid
was allotment before 1922 and was to be convertedsheep to cattle The grazing permit
cards indicate the reverse there are records of cattle before 1922 on the allotment while in
1931 the records are of sheep no records were found between 1922 and 1931 Further
Ingrain states that there is no way to thereasonably trail cattle into allotment at present as the
trail from Frissel hasCrossing too many switchbacks and is inadvisable It seems plausible
that before 1922 the low country along the river was used for cattle while the high slopes of
Rebel Rock and Pyramid Mountain were used for sheep grazing Cattle were trailed into the
allotment the basin of the South whilealong Fork McKenzie sheep were trailed in along the
same route described above In 1938 the allotmentHorsepasture was combined with Rebel
Rock and the Lowder Ridge The last to the Rebelsheep graze Rock allotment was in 1947
South The ofgrazing the southhistory region is generally uncompliŁated The earliest
records of sheep grazing are in 1916 though it was beforeundoubtedly grazed this time and
the allotment bands ofsupported approximately sheep until the allotment was discontinued
in 1945 Kuhns reports no serious ofovergrazing the allotment in 1916 The Grazing Policy
Statement for the period 1946-1950 provides some into the laterinsight history of this region
Horse Lake-- This consisted offormerly two units known as Packsaddle and Wildcat
allotments and was grazed by preference permittee J.W Fisher with bands of 1200 head
each They were combined into one unit in 1940 and called the Horse Lake
allotment This action was andsuggested approved by the permittee In 1944 J.W Fisher
sold his sheep and abandoned his preference Reduction was due primarily to conifer
encroachment and resultant loss of net usable area In recent years an added emphasis has
been given to recreational use about the many lakes in the allotment.. The driveway via
andand oneLake Burnt Top Mtn the west of Red Hill theparalleling Skyline trail toNash
with use theHorse Lake used recreationalshould be to conflict along Skyline trail
prevent
Lake Horse Lake.. They should not closer thanfrom Sisters Mirror graze 1/4 mile of
horseupper Lake Mink Lake or any of the other Lakes frequented by rereationalists
West The West is of three allotmentscomposed variously cattle used by local
allotment exist for the 1920-1928ranches Records for the South Fork McKenzie period
and 28 head of cattle The Indian Ridge allotment appears on the 1921supporting between
records of The allotment recordsGrasshopperallotment map but useonly found no its
estimatedthespan period from between and 100 head cattle The1915-1976 supporting
was 100 head and the allotment was deemed underused forof the allotmentcarrying capacity
were from the south the North Fork of themost of its Cattle trailed in along Middlehistory
Fork Willamette River The Statement for theGrazing Policy 5-year period 1946-1950
Conifer encroachment on the Grasshopper cattle allotment isdescribes the allotment taking
theits annual toll on this but it is believed with good management of stock on the
range
leastit will the number and season indicated for the next 5-year period atproviderange
ranchThis is used by local owners in the ofrange dependent vicinity Oakridge and should be
given preference for use of this kind in the future
Chucksney The andChucksney allotment was grazed by sheep cattle during
1946-1950different of its The Statement5-year period Grazing Policyperiods history
describes its history This allotment was grazed by cattle in its early history ca 1922-
1929 and grazed by sheep for many years until 1944 when it was again reclassified to cattle
because of lack ofgrazing demand for andsheep range upon recommendation by Ranger
McFarland should be the ofStudy given to practicability tracking cattle to and from the
allotment via the Box Canyon Guard Station to prevent crossing and probable damage to the
Grasshopper Allotment Cattle should be Northkept away from the Fork Forest Camp and
Box Canyon Guard Station in trailing to and from the range 40 acres at the Box
Canyon Guard Station were closed to grazing in 1932
Cattle were trailed in from the south along the North Fork of the Middle Fork
Willamette River Sheep were trailed in to Box Canyon Guard station from the Taylor Burn
References
Covile F.V 1898 Forest growth and sheep grazing in the Cascade Mountains of Oregon
USDA Division of BulletinForestry No 15
D.C 1922 ofReport Grazing Inspection on Cattle Ranges onIngram G-.Reports-Cascade
Cascade Forest
Johnson R.R 1985 Historical Records Inventory for the Willamette National Forest Forest
Grazing Permits
Kuhns J.C 1916 0-Reconnaissance-CasCade Letter to the Forest Supervisor
Minor and A.F NationalPecor 1977 WillametteCultural resource overview of the Forest
Western ofOregon University Oregon Anthropological Papers No 12
Rakestraw and Rakestraw 1991 ofHistory the Willamette National Forest USDA
Willamette National Forest Eugene OR
USDA Forest Service 1945 StatementGrazing Policy 5-year period 1946-1950 Willamette
National Forest Supplement to the Forest Grazing Plan Willamette National Forest
1923 2900 Fisher Probably East of Rebel Rock Wildcat_____
1924 1200 Breen Packsaddle Also grazed on the Deschutes______
of Rebel Rock1924 4200 Fisher Probably East Wildcat
______
of Rebel Rock1926 2800 Fisher Cascade N.F Probably East Wildcat
_____1927 2800 Fisher Cascade N.F Probably East of Rebel Rock Wildcat
_____1928 2800 Fisher Cascade N.F Probably East of Rebel Rock Wildcat
______
1929 2800 Fisher Cascade N.F Probably East of Rebel Rock Wildcat_____1930 2800 Fisher Cascade N.F Probably East of Rebel Rock Wildcat_____1931 2800 Fisher Cascade N.F Probably East of Rebel Rock Wildcat
______
1931 1000 Jones Packsaddle Also grazed on the Deschutes______
1932 3000 Fisher Wildcat/Packsaddle Also grazed Horse Lake______
1933 3000 Fisher Wildcat/Packsaddle Also grazed Horse Lake______
1931 4440 Connolly Rebel Rock Also grazed Olallie/Lowder_____1932 3600 Rebel Rock Also Grazed Horsepasture_____ iiiilly
1933 3600 Connolly Rebel Rock Also Grazed Horsepasture_____1934 2400 Connolly Rebel Rock Also Grazed Horsepasture_____1937 1200 Rebel Rock_____ Connolly _______________________________________________