unique in many ways and have provid contributions to science from the st geology. The flows are of recent vinta to geologic time and have covered lar of older formations. They followed least resistance and, as a result, occas rounded some of the older land fo islands, or kipukas.

The University of Idaho has been range research in southern Idaho for

years. In 1955, two members of the University staff were looking for suitable study areas near the Craters of the Moon National Monument. They found a small isolated kipuka which was apparently undisturbed by grazing. The following year a study team from the University made a trip into the area. The value of the kipuka for range research was recognized imediately. No evidence of grazing by domestic livestock could be found.

The kipuka covers approximately 185 acres. It is completely surrounded by rough, broken lava beds too rough for domestic livestock to easily

cross.

Several other kipukas are located southwest of the monument. The largest, Laidlaw Park, covers approximately 78,000 acres. To the west, and separated from Laidlaw Park at the nearest point by a half-mile strip of lava, is Little Park which covers about 9,000 acres. Laidlaw Park and Little Park are easily accessible to livestock over a road which was built by the stockmen and later improved by the Bureau of Land Management. Both parks are grazed in the spring and fall by sheep and cattle. The northly parts of these two areas have a very good stand of perennial grasses with an overstory of scattered sagebrush.

The terrain of the isolated kipuka is similar to that in Laidlaw Park. It is characterized by a low hill rising some distance above the surrounding lava. The vegetation is very interesting to one who has observed only heavily grazed land. Basically, it is a sagebrush-grass type. Three-tip sagebrush occupies the greater part with big sagebrush being confined mainly to small knolls and southerly slopes. The understory is a mixture of perennial grasses with Idaho fescue predominating. Bluebunch wheatgrass and other perennial grasses are present to a lesser degree. Broadleaf weeds such as balsamroot, hawksbeard and lupine in varying amounts are interspersed with the grasses. Cheatgrass is also found to some degree, particularly near the top of the hill.

This kipuka is especially suited to range vegetation studies. The growth of perennial forage plants fluctuates from year to year, depending on weather conditions. It is very difficult to determine actual annual fluctuations on grazed ranges. There is always uncertainty as to whether the variations are caused by grazing or weather conditions. In the kipuka, a totally protected area, grazing competition does not exist.

Our range lands must be improved wherever possible to provide better watershed protection and more feed for livestock and game. Many areas cannot be rehabilitated by reseeding because of rocky soils, adverse topography and other factors. They can be improved only by establishing and following sound management practices.

It is essential that proper range conditions be determined in any range management program. Range managers continually strive toward optimum production but very seldom reach that goal.

ROUGH TRAIL over lava from Laidlaw Park.

Range condition classifications are based primarily on optimum conditions, taking into consideration soil and vegetative relationships. Since most ranges have been altered considerably by grazing and fire, it is very difficult to determine optimum conditions without referral to protected areas. Intensive range studies started far too late for most technicians to see grazing lands in their native condition. Protected relict areas are invaluable and should be maintained for future scientific studies.

The University of Idaho began soil-vegetation studies on the isolated kipuka in 1956. A soilrange team from the Soil Conservation Service started somewhat similar studies in 1958. Permanent study sites have been established by the University and SCS. The sites entail a detailed study of soil and vegetational relationships. The studies differ to some degree between the two agencies, particularly as to the vegetation. The University has established permanent line transects for measuring basal area on each species, bare ground percentage and other related information. SCS measures herbage production and species composition on a weight basis. Both agencies will correlate their findings with soil studies.

This research will greatly benefit range management. The annual measurement of herbage production is of particular value to range technicians. Range technicians and stockmen are primarily interested in the amount of forage that can be produced from any particular range. The studies will help considerably in understanding the relationships between herbage production and soil conditions.

The Soil Conservation Service, the University (Continued on page 14)

types meet present and future needs of American youngsters. It recommends means and standards for increasing the number of resident camps for the Nation's children, and points out that over a third of the camps had to reject applications in 1958 because of lack of space.

A limited number of copies of the booklet are currently available from the Division of Recreation Resources Planning, National Park Service, Department of the Interior, Washington 25, D.C.

ELK CONTROL

Elk hunting on a limited scale will be permitted again in a portion of Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming, during the 1961 hunting season in order to preserve forage resources from abuse through over-grazing.

Grand Teton is the only national park where hunting is permitted. Congress enacted a law in 1950 permitting elk hunting there. 2,000 permits will be available this year. In eight years of hunting in Grand Teton, the annual kill averaged 166 animals. The season opens October 15 and ends November 30.

Application for the special permits are now being accepted by the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission at the Cheyenne Office from the holders of valid elk licenses.

MINERAL LEASING RULES Federal mineral leasing regulations have been amended to facilitate the development of oil and gas on federally owned lands. The changes carry out amendments to the Mineral Leasing Act of 1920 which were passed by the 86th Congress on September 2, 1960.

The law and new rules extend the primary terms of noncompetitive oil and gas leases from 5 to 10 years. Annual rental rates for noncompetitive leases have been raised to 50 cents an acre for the entire lease term.

This rate is the minimum established by Congress.

The new regulations combine the acreage limit for leases and options from 46,080 acres and 200,000 acres respectively in any one State (except Alaska) to 246,080 acres.

The rental rate for competitive leases prior to discovery was raised from $1 an acre per year to $2 an acre per year.

Noncompetitive oil and gas leases will be issued for a single term of 10 years. Competitive leases will continue to be issued for a single term of 5 years. Both leases will continue as long as oil and gas is produced in paying quantities.

ON THE BOOKSHELF

My Wilderness: The Pacific West, by William O. Douglas. (New York, Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1960) 206 pp. Illus.

A new book by Justice William O. Douglas. From the Brooks Range in Alaska to the High Sierras in California, Justice Douglas takes the reader through some of the few unspoiled wilderness areas left in the United States.

Douglas is by preference a walker. He feels that on foot is the only way to find and see the real beauty of the wonderland of flora and fauna, the deeper meaning of the complex jungle growth and mountain heights. The author shows a remarkably vast and precise knowledge of forests, deserts, mountains, birds, mammals, fish, and plains of the eleven major regions he discusses.

The book is a work of science as well as an exciting narration of the thrills of running rapids through boulders and "white water," watching a storm approach a Pacific beach, or fishing for grayling in the wilds of northern Alaska.

Many of the areas Justice Douglas describes are presently the scene of hard battles for the protection of this country's dwindling wilderness resources. Summary of Mining and Petroleum Lairs of the World—

Bureau of Mines Information Circular 8017, available from the Superintendent of Documents, Washington 25, D.C., for $1.

The first of its kind ever published in a single volume this book presents highlights of mining and mineral land tenure laws of more than 100 countries. The material is listed in an easyto-find manner and the 215 page volume includes references to sources of basic information. This permits the reader to obtain other facts if he wishes to study a a particular country further.

Some of the smaller nations of the free world are omitted because their meager mineral resources are administered under agricultural or general industrial regulations. All other nations having laws permitting private ownership and development of mineral rights are listed alphabetically within one of nine chapters, grouped by con tinents. In Federal jurisdictions such as the United States, Switzerland, Canada and Australia-the laws of the States or provinces are described separately from those of the central government.

The publication is not sold by the Bureau of Mines. Journey Into Summer, by Edwin Way Teale. (New York, Dodd, Mead & Company, 1960.) 366 pp. Illus.

Ultraviolet Guide To Minerals: with mineral identification charts, by Sterling Gleason. (Princeton, New Jersey, D. Van Nostrand Company, 1960.) 250 pp. Illus.

This Land Of Ours: Community and Conservation Projects for Citizens, by Alice Harvey Hubbard. (New York, The Macmillan Company, 1960.) 272 pages.

NEW MEXICO

New Mexico may use Federal aid funds in the payment of annual rental for hunting and fishing rights on 11,411,000 acres of State trust lands.

The agreement which now (Continued on page 15)

WATERSHED CONSERVATION (Continued from page 5)

owners from investing in improvements, and compounds the problems of land administrators.

Most of the national land reserve in the West is in use for grazing by individual ranchers, under a system which grants a revocable privilege. Under the privilege, ranchers have a rather secure tenure so far as the use of the land for grazing is concerned, but one which is clearly inferior to public requirements.

Any portion of the national land reserve that is used for grazing, is, of course, subject to reduction or elimination of grazing as may be required by Government operations. For example, some areas every year are sold or exchanged. Others are transferred into intensive Government use such as for military, wildlife, parks, or recreation. An effort is made to continue grazing where it is compatible with public uses.

Millions of acres of the national land reserve undoubtedly will be transferred into private ownership in the next decade to keep pace with the needs of a growing population. Before sales or entries are allowed, it must be certain that they conform to the public interest.

Uncertainty as to when or where grazing lands will be eliminated reduces the interest of users in protecting the lands for the future or in investing private capital on them. Such uncertainties will be lessened as the inventory of public lands is completed and a program of balanced usage is arranged.

A major obstacle in attracting contributions to rebuilding the Federal range is the slowness with which the range is divided into management units or allotments. Prerequisite to such division is adjudication of grazing privileges. This in turn demands an adequate inventory of the lands in the dependent ranch properties. Progress is being made but further acceleration is needed.

The programs of grazing administration and watershed conservation are being pulled closer together to provide for coordination. Where substantial downward adjustments in grazing use are necessary, it is desirable to undertaken simultaneously investments and treatment measures. Such action would lessen the adverse economic effect of reduced grazing usage, and assure the investment needed to restore the land for productivity and resource protection.

As a further item of improvement, grazing administration and timber sales of the Bureau of Land Management are being tied in closer to the program of soil and moisture conservation. The specific objectives of the latter program, in common with those of other agencies, are (1) to use the public lands within their capabilities; (2) to apply treatment in accordance with needs; (3) to

SPILLWAY on a typical BLM water management structure.

control surface runoff, sustained ground-water levels, and minimize erosion, flood, and silt damage; and (4) to restore depleted rangelands to productivity.

Cooperation will continue as in the past, with small watershed projects organized under the Watershed Protection and Flood Prevention Act.

We are cooperating in several watershed studies to determine the effects of grazing, the extent and character of erosion, runoff and sediment yields and other information. These studies are underway in all of the Western States, such as Willow Creek in Montana, Rio Grande Research Center in New Mexico, Sage Creek Watershed in Wyoming and San Simon in Arizona.

Typical of these studies is the Badger Wash Study Area in western Colorado. Four Federal agencies are cooperating in this project-Geological Survey, Bureau of Reclamation, Bureau of Land Management, and the Rocky Mountain Forest and Range Experiment Station of the Department of Agriculture. The study embraces the upper 4,300 acres of the watershed. The entire area is Federal range administered by the Bureau, and the Bureau will construct all improvements. The Geological Survey will install and maintain water and sediment measuring devices. Bureau of Reclamation prepares topographic surveys. Vegetation surveys, soil surveys, and infiltration studies are the responsibility of the Forest and Range Experiment Station.

The

Final results of the study are not expected for some 20 years, but some findings have immediate value.

Pursuant to President Kennedy's natural resources message we have started a study to determine appropriate fees and charges for the use of public lands. Secretary Udall's 18-month moratorium on filing nonmineral applications for lands will allow the Bureau to clear up an oppressive backlog of land disposition cases. It will permit the Government to take a long, hard look at the