S3 Page 17

Collector: Grinnell - 1925
Location: La Grulla, 7200 ft.
Date: Oct. 2
Page Number: 2560

the main water channel; it would send its
water into one of the heads of the Santo
Domingo River, I suppose, if the La Grulla
meadow basin should ever fill up. As it
is, the surplus water from the evidently light
rains and snow on this plateau (that that
is not lost by evaporation) doubtless finds its
way thru the porous gravel into the heads
of the few "streams" going west to the
Pacific. The springs, I passed yesterday below
"Encinas Primeras" are thus doubtless accounted
for. Old-timers say that La Grulla meadow
was once largely covered with tules, and that the
"lake" was large, and many ducks nested there. Now
it is practically a desert waste, the scant wire-
grass grazed down to the very sand, by great numbers
of gaunt cattle, whose ribs and hip bones
protrude distressingly. No better illustration
of the baneful effects of over-grazing could be
cited. The ranchmen from the lower country
run in during the summer apparently just
as many as will live over. The lowland pasture
is relatively plentiful in seasons of normal
rain. Since three years of subnormal rainfall
have now passed, the conditions I see may
be extreme. Along the streamlet, I can find no
signs of miciotis: the cattle have reached in
under the willow clumps and banks for every

Collector: Grinnell - 1925
Location: La Grulla, 7200 ft.
Date: Oct. 2
Page Number: 2560

the main water channel; it would send its
water into one of the heads of the Santo
Domingo River, I suppose, if the La Grulla
meadow basin should ever fill up. As it
is, the surplus water from the evidently light
rains and snow on this plateau (that that
is not lost by evaporation) doubtless finds its
way thru the porous gravel into the heads
of the few "streams" going west to the
Pacific. The springs, I passed yesterday below
"Encinas Primeras" are thus doubtless accounted
for. Old-timers say that La Grulla meadow
was once largely covered with tules, and that the
"lake" was large, and many ducks nested there. Now
it is practically a desert waste, the scant wire-
grass grazed down to the very sand, by great numbers
of gaunt cattle, whose ribs and hip bones
protrude distressingly. No better illustration
of the baneful effects of over-grazing could be
cited. the ranchmen from the lower country
run in during the summer apparently just
as many as will live over. The lowland pasture
is relatively plentiful in seasons of normal
rain. Since three years of subnormal rainfall
have now passed, the conditions I see may
be extreme. Along the streamlet, I can find no
signs of miciotis: the cattle have reached in
under the willow clumps and banks for every