In the Big Horn Basin, settlement and ranching in the 1800s began in a dry, rocky land with few wagon trails, few residents, and cattle grazing on open range near natural water. After the terrible winter of 1887 decimated livestock herds, local livestock owners recognized the need to raise winter feed and improve conditions for their cattle in order to survive the winters and show a profit. Using snow runoff and rainwater, they irrigated arid land and built irrigation systems that created meadows, soaked the ground, and sent water back into streams, creating fisheries and wetlands. Dams on rivers irrigated large tracts of land while also helping make electricity available and forming recreation areas. Ranchers fenced land, drilled wells, built reservoirs, and constructed roads to deliver feed and haul livestock and produce to market, while trees came to grow in once treeless river valleys. Agriculture producers continue to invest time and money in developing and caring for resources on private land and federal grazing permits.