During the late 1940’s and early 1950’s buildings constructed as temporary structures in the ERA and CCC period were remodeled and continued in use for headquarters and utility purposes.[188]
Both the grazing and the land ownership problems at the national monument were compounded by the war. With increased rainfall in the region during the decade of the 1940’s and the rising price of beef, the situation of the ranchers greatly improved. Under a plan suggested by Congressman Case in January 1943 to help in the “Beef for Victory Program,” the Service authorized for the first time in April the issuance of grazing permits on federally owned grasslands within the national monument. Under this program, the lands were divided into seven grazing units. An orderly grazing plan was established with the cooperation of the Soil Conservation Service.[190] Stricklin was able to identify and locate all cattle and sheep outfits that claimed to be using the national monument lands in conjunction with their SCS allotments.[191] Following the war authorized grazing remained one of the area’s major management problems for over a decade.
Stricklin wrote about an interesting sidelight of the grazing problem:
The roundup and disposal of several hundred head of unclaimed and so-called wild horses in the Sage Creek basin was a source of much concern on the part of both ranchers and the Custodian, the ranchers claiming the wild stallions were enticing away their mares. The Custodian’s concern was partly because of the damage these herds were doing to the range, but largely because it was practically the only program of any kind on which the National Park Service and the ranchers could even remotely agree. Several roundups were collaborated in, during which the herds were drastically reduced. Airplanes were used on at least one of the roundups to flush horses out of the canyons and keep them from breaking back on their route to Scenic and the loading chutes. Jack and Mamie Close, ranchers on Quinn Table, were the leaders among the ranchers in this work.[192]
Feral horses were eventually eliminated through roundups and returned to their owners. The last roundup took place in the national monument in 1963.[193]
