When the Good Grass Goes
Posted by: 
brwhiz
N 36° 51.788 W 112° 44.422
12S E 344865 N 4081103
This Historical Marker is mounted on a steel post near one of the stone ranch buildings on the grounds of Pipe Spring National Monument about 15 miles west of Fredonia, Arizona.
Waymark Code: WMFT7K
Location: Arizona, United States
Date Posted: 11/27/2012
Views: 4
When the Good Grass Goes
1880 - Ten years ago the desert spaces...were covered with abundant grasses. Today hardly a blade of grass is to be found within 10 miles of [Pipe] spring...Even if there had been no drought...cattle would have...destroyed the grass by cropping it clean...
Clarence Dutton, U.S. Geological Survey
High-desert grasses once covered the range before you, as far as the eye could see. For centuries Paiute people made the tiny seeds of those native grasses a staple of their diet. Even the animals hunted by the Kaibab Paiute, like grouse, rabbits, or antelope, lived on the nutrient-rich grass.
Then in the 1860s thousands of sheep and cattle were put on the range to take advantage of this sea of grass. Without warning, a ten-year period of cooler moist weather ended. Scarce rain and snow, combined with overgrazing, changed all the lives that had depended on the good grass--for the worse.
[caption of two small photos]Tumbleweeds and sagebrush symbolize the west for many people today. These plants take over damaged rangelands, like the Arizona Strip, and displace the native grasses.