California Condor Eben McMillan 14 January 1967 About the length of the dry spell of weather that has been the rule for the last 6 or 7 weeks. Mr. Percy thought his cattle were in Good shape considering the shortage of feed but he felt this would Not be the case in another week if more rain did not come soon to revive the feed. Jan and I felt that Mr. Percy's range, where it was in bad shape from overgrazing, nevertheless had held out better than most areas we have seen lately and will continue to support the Percy livestock for some time yet without a chance of recovery. This feature has been made possible by the fact that the range of Mr. Percy is so situated that the water is all at the lower elevations and the higher range part of the range such as on the upper part of Lopper Mountain and in the Pole Canyon area are never grazed to any extent during the warm weather of summer and fall, due to its distance from water, and this naturally defers the use of this range until the lack of forage around near the water is gone and cool weather makes it possible for the cattle to climb the tall hills and remain for some time before having to return for a drink. Thus, Mr. Percy's cattle are now spending a good deal of their time at the higher elevations where old forage (wild oats) remains that give protection against the cold and dry winds to the new green growth, as well as preventing loss of moisture from the soil by covering the ground against heat and cold that tend to suck up moisture from bare ground that has no protective cover, Range condition