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Mancos Watershed - 14080107 <br />HISTORIC IMF~CTS IN THE I~L~NCOti RIB"ER R:~TERSHED <br />The impacts listed below reflect my observations Dyer that past half centul~~. Tllev also reflect <br />what I have leanled fi'onl the historical grazing of domestic live~stocl~ that began in the 1870's. <br />Soule of the impacts base decreased during the past fete decades and sonle~ haye~ become nxn-e <br />of a tlu'eat. <br />Historic grazvia b~~ domestic li~-estock. In the late 18()0's James Frilil: and others brought a <br />thousand head of cattle into the I~Ialleos ~'alle~-. ~~'ithin a cleeacle this number heel tripled and <br />cattle «°ere being grazed o~-er the LaPlata Mountains, the Mancos ti~allev, on Menefee <br />I\Iountain, on the Mesa ~"erde cuesta, on the L?ta Mountain Reservation, and all other adjacent <br />lands. Just a quid: the cattlemen bag~ul homesteading d0 acre parcels all along the l~I~ulcos <br />River and clo«n `['giber Canyon. The lands were elearecl ~uicl by --- clitehes «-ere being built to <br />ili'igata the grasses and raise had-. ~ little later slleepmen began coming into the countl-~- and <br />they ~ti~era follo~ti~ed the saille pattern. Sol Egon fenced his 160 acres «-ith bald fencing and <br />forced his sheep to clear the Dal: brush, rosebushes, and snoEVberrv until by 1936, i~-hen he sold <br />the land to Foster Hall. brush remained only on a thil-ty acre parcel. Sol's brother, Jolul Eion, <br />did the same practice and b~- the use of sheep, he had o~~er t«-o hundred acres of pasture and <br />ha~~fielcl elaarecl of brush. l~iean~vhile, others tlse ales, gllibbing boss, and shovels tc~ slowly <br />ma1Le fields. If they dicl use fire as a clearing tool, it is not cliscussecl in oral histor~~. Irrigation <br />also served to hill out the blush as the network of d8 ditches ~~eere developed. <br />In the l~lallcos Canvoll Frances Phelps told ho~v hard her father, Fred ~1-lnstrollg, ~vorlLed to <br />clew' the land of sagebnish and scattered trees.:-according to Hallie Isnla~- a single pzrson could <br />clear the blush, using a grubbing hoz, fi'onl a half acre to an acre in a long, hard clay. Horses <br />«°erz used to help relno~_e trees. accompanied b~- much digging and root chopping and sweat on <br />the pal-t of the f~trnler. <br />The first cattlemen were not farmers. Thee nloyed the cattlz or sheep to winter and sunlnler <br />pasture as necessary-. Fred ~rnlstrong, in the 1\Iallcos Canyon, and `~%heeler, at the confhlellce <br />of ti~~'eber Canyon and Mancos Riser, were exceptions. These people raised cattlz, irrigated and <br />cut hay, and fed their animals tlu'ough the «-inter. That reel to a year around use of the l~iancos <br />Carryon until Lee Sheel~ bou~T It the land. Lee ~~-intered the cattle in the Mancos Carryon ulcl <br />sunlnlered the cattle on a Forest Service permit around T-Down Flats and on the Ranlpal-ts. <br />~~"hen the Sheers sold their cattle and Lee's son, Clyde retired, then the grandsons, ~~'esley and <br />Gary, leased the canyon pastures to Eddie kobbins for sunlnler grazing. For two sulnnlers the <br />Robbins put -15(? head of cattle on this small portion of riser bottom and the cattle «-ere here for <br />t~vo to four nloutlls per veal'. The grass vas reclucecl to fi'ayecl roots during the nlicl-1050'x. B~~ <br />1978 the hark had purchased more of the Mancos Canyon and they attempted to regulate the <br />grazing to be d0 head for April and May only. Cif course this timing nipped the gratis in the bud, <br />being grazed during the prime groin-ing season for that area. In addition to poor timing, the d0 <br />head were usually on the earl: land tulttl <~ugust before the pa1'lti finally said that the grazing vas <br />occurring beyond the specified time. The grass coyer began clegracling ~vitll this new practice <br />and the clegraclatioll continued until 1997 whin the el-tenclecl tenancy follo~villg the 1975 <br />pUl'Chase was tel'111111ateC1. <br />23 <br />