Walker Basin (S) Allotment
1968 Narrative Statement

General Description

Walker Basin (S) Allotment has a gross acreage of 24,879 acres. The acreage breakdown for the allotment is as follows: 20,763 acres of National Forest lands, 3,876 acres owned by Southwest Forest Industries, Inc., and 240 acres owned by the Permittees.

The Intermediate Zone characterizes the eastern two-thirds of the allotment. The western one-third of the allotment is within the Woodland Zone while the Travel Influence Zone along FH-3 is in the extreme northeastern part of the allotment. The attached map within the precipitation section shows the location of the Multiple Use Management Zones.

The allotment's eight pastures are listed below according to their use periods, acreages, and percentages of both the allotment's size and carrying capacity.

Vegetative Description

The following list of species are found in most of the Walker Basin (S) Allotment pastures. There is a lack of desirable cool season and warm season growing species within nearly all of the pastures. For example blue grama makes up more of the composition than is desirable:

Pine Pasture

Pine pasture's vegetation varies from open park like timber types to dense pine stands. A small juniper area exists within the Southwestern portion of Pine pasture. The pasture's overall range condition is poor. The 345 K.V. powerline's right-of-way and some of the nearby open parks have fair range conditions due mainly to seeded cool season grasses. These seeded areas receive heavy use from livestock, wildlife and horses.

Pine pasture's forage composition ratios are 27% cool season growers, 41% warm season growers and 22% invaders.

Horse Pasture

The vegetative aspect within the Horse pasture is characterized by a homogeneous pine type. The private land fenced in with the Horse pasture provides the pasture's open park type (Southeastern portion of Harris Park). Fair range condition is found throughout the Horse pasture.

Horse pasture's forage composition contains 7% cool season growers, 73% warm season growers and 20% invaders.

Heifer Pasture

Heifer pasture has a few small scattered open parks within its homogeneous pine type. Heifer pasture's forage composition is very similar to Horse pasture's forage composition. This pasture's range condition is generally fair with a small portion of poor range near the cattle and elk exclosures in Maxwell Park. Both of these exclosures have good condition ranges.

Horse Knoll

This pasture contains a very small amount of grassland, with a few scattered pine stands, some unsuitable range and a large juniper area. Horse Knoll's forage composition is dominated by blue grama (7% cool; 67% warm: 26% invader species).

Range condition within the Horse Knoll Unit is generally poor with some very poor areas around the stock tanks. The poor range near C-10 has high densities of snakeweed and weeds. This flat is adaptable for seeding and juniper control.

Poor range condition is evident near the corner of sections 27, 26, T.15N, R.8E. The forage species there have lower vigor, production and densities than the same species just across the fence (The Beaver Creek (S) Allotment's side of the boundary fence). Also noted was the absence of desirable cool season grasses in the Horse Knoll pasture. Whereas, they were found on the Beaver Creek (S) Allotment's side of the fence. This fence line contrast points out sharply that a fair range condition class is obtainable for the Horse Knoll pasture.

Just north of Cherry Tree Tank is an area of very poor range. Heavy stands of snakeweed and weeds cover the area. Low forage production coupled with low forage density compound the area's active sheet and gully erosion.

Snake Ridge

Snake Ridge pasture contains some poor grasslands and pine types with extensive area of poor and very poor juniper stands.

Between Buckhorn camp and the Cherry Tree Tank is a large area of very poor range. This area is characterized by "beat out" flats and ridges that have either dense stands of snakeweed, extensive areas of erosion pavement and large areas of dense juniper. The gullies running through the area are actively eroding and have dense stands of pine reproduction and junipers. This entire area is characterized by very low forage production and plant vigor. Forest Road 81.1A is actively eroding in parts of this area.

Snake Ridge pasture's portion of the 345 K.V. powerline right-of-way's seeded cool season growers are being replaced with snakeweed, blue grama and some squirreltail.

Snake Ridge's forage composition is very similar to that of Horse Knoll unit's forage composition (5% cool; 69% warm; 26% invaders).

Steer Pasture

Steer Pasture has numerous small open parks, some unsuitable range (Willow Valley Draw) within its Pine type. Most of the pasture is in a poor to fair range condition.

The small open park near Dozer tank is in very poor range condition. This park's vegetation is composed of blue grama, weeds, bare ground, and pussytoes.

The extreme southeastern portion of the pasture is separated from the rest of the pasture by the Willow Valley Draw. This area is in good shape with many of the desirable cool and warm season species found there such as mountain muhly, smooth brome, Junegrass, Arizona fescue and numerous sedges in the wetter bottoms. Forage production within this area is 200-300 lbs per acre more than in the adjacent fair range areas.

This pasture general forage composition ratio is as follows: 9% cool season growers, 69% warm season growers and 22% invaders.

Mahan Pasture

Mahan pasture's acreage has been included within the Pine Unit. Mahan Park (private land) is used in conjunction with Mahan pasture. The area's vegetation consists of open parks and dense timbered areas. Mahan pasture's range condition is generally fair with a similar forage species composition as Steer Pasture's forage composition. The fence line contrast between Mahan and Steer Pastures shows Mahan's forage grasses to have better densities and vigor than Steer Pasture's grasses.

Buckhorn Pasture

Buckhorn pasture is in fair range condition with a juniper aspect. This pasture has sideoats grama, muttongrass, Junegrass, squirreltail, and blue grama in its forage composition. It illustrates the possible potential for juniper type.

Improvements

There are sixteen (16) livestock tanks in need of waterlots for controlling livestock utilization of forage.

The allotment's fences are generally in fair shape. (Refer to the range improvement list).

Topographic Description

The topography of the allotment is rolling to relatively flat. There are some areas of unsuitability around Sam's Butte and along the escarpment which divides the Springerville and Gem soils from the Brolliar soils. Other scattered areas of unsuitability are in canyon bottoms and around Horse Knoll. At times the canyons tend to bluff-up for short distances, but then flatten out to open drainages. Much of the allotment is characterized by outcroppings of malapai rock scattered throughout the western portion of the allotment.

The allotment drains into the Verde River, then into the Gila-Salt River drainage system.

Wildlife

Game species on this allotment are elk, deer, antelope, and turkey plus small game animals such as cottontail rabbits and Abert squirrels. These animals are native to the Coconino National Forest with exception of the elk which was transplanted March, 1919, to replace the extinct Merriam elk.

Populations of squirrels, turkey and rabbits fluctuate annually in response to weather conditions, predators, and a variety of other factors. During the late 1950's and early 1960's, the deer herds were thinned considerably through antlerless hunts. This type of hunting was stopped, yet the deer herd has continued to decrease. The reason for this continued decrease or low head population is not known.

Elk populations have certainly shown an increase. This increase is not to a point that would cause concern. Utilization studies in the spring fail to show significant use by elk. Elk and cattle enclosures at Mahan Park are maintained by the Game Department for comparative data between elk and cattle use.

Antelope populations decreased in 1968 due to the severe winter of 1967. The herd, once estimated at 400 head in this area and adjoining country, is now around 50 animals. Hunting has been very light, and as with the deer population, nobody can give a definite reason for the decrease in population.

Present Management

The present system of management is a modified rest-rotation program. Two pastures receive alternate spring and fall growing season rest while the summer pastures receive alternate summer growing season rest periods. Also, the spring-fall ranges are rested in the summer, and the summer pastures are partially rested during the spring and fall.

This system is broken up by the uncontrolled use of stray horses (escaped from the Permittees). This uncontrolled horse use, overstocking of cattle, plus laxity on the Permittees' part in carefully following the rotation schedule has probably negated most of the benefits of the present rotation system of management.

The field work for the allotment analysis was accomplished in 1967 and 1968 during the fall periods by Hafterson, Hardy, and Gutierrez. During the winter of 1968, the office computations were done by Hafterson, Ellis, and Hardy. The narrative was written by Hardy. The Permittee, William M. Sullivan, was invited to participate in the field inspections but did so only a very few times. Most of these dual inspections were the result of range improvement location (stock tank) trips.

Last Revised: 13 February 2001