There are over a million acres of arid lands in the plains of the Big Horn and Yellowstone Basins, with favorable soils and potential farm values if water can be made available for irrigation. It is important to conserve the forest and forage cover so that the greatest volume of usable water may be available for agricultural use. The future prosperity and agricultural development of the region is limited to a great extent by the amount of water that can be supplied for irrigation from the streams having their sources within the Shoshone Forest. Grazing Resources.—The raising of livestock is a basic industry in Wyoming. The Shoshone provides summer range for 10,000 cattle and horses, and 75,000 sheep, owned by almost 200 resident owners. The higher ranges are particularly good for the production of lambs and wool, and the lower ones are excellent for beef. Range is also furnished for horse herds of the dude ranchers and for dairy cattle. Permittees grazing livestock in the national forest are assigned specific grazing allotments, and are required to handle their stock according to approved management practices. Local officers endeavor to stock all ranges conservatively for the purpose of preventing range deterioration which reduces the volume of forage produced and starts erosion. Grazing permittees are selected on the basis of ownership of improved ranch property which is dependent upon forest range to make it an economic unit. This policy favors the established tax-paying citizen and eliminates the tramp stockman who has no base of operations but exploits the country through which he passes. In spite of the fact that all ranges adapted to the grazing of livestock have been fully stocked for many years, sufficient forage is reserved to take care of the 3,500 elk, 6,200 mule deer, 750 antelope, 700 mountain sheep, and 250 moose which inhabit the forest. [Illustration: F-385820 _High above the clouds on Beartooth Plateau._] RECREATIONAL USE AND VALUES No single activity of the forest has grown so rapidly in recent years as recreation. The forest is ideally adapted to recreational use because of the rough, majestic, and undeveloped character of its wilderness where most travel must be done with a horse and pack outfit. It is truly a forest with a “back country.” The numerous lakes and mountain streams, the glaciers, the vast forest cover, and the abundance of fish and game are attractions that draw large numbers of people who wish to see wilderness areas unspoiled by the hand of man. [Illustration: F-385837 _Mixed virgin stand of Engelmann spruce and Douglas fir._]