226 ANNUAL EEPOETS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



improvements prove conclusively the great importance of extending 

 them. 



The demand for range now fully equals and in many places over- 

 taxes the capacity of the forests. To provide for increased demand, 

 improve and protect existing ranges, and secure utilization of new 

 areas, a large amount of improvement work must be undertaken by 

 the Government. It is estimated that $3,500,000 will be necessary 

 fully to improve the forest ranges. Projects have already been 

 surveyed, on which construction can be begun immediately, involv- 

 ing an expenditure of over SI 70,000. These projects consist of boun- 

 dary fences to prevent trespass, division and drift fences to control 

 more adequately the distribution and movement of stock, water 

 developments, and poisonous plant eradication. Such improvements 

 as these are essential to the most effective range management and to 

 providing for stable occupanc3^ The entire cost of these improve- 

 ments will be returned to the Public Treasury in increased grazing 

 receipts alone in about eight years, so that purely from a business 

 standpoint the expenditure will be profitable — a fact which should 

 not be overlooked. 



NEED OF IMPROVED METHODS OF MANAGEMENT. 



The importance of improved methods of range and live-stock 

 management, through which are obtained both more forage and 

 more and higher-grade live-stock products, is apparent when it is 

 borne in mind that about 53 per cent of all the sheep and 22 per 

 cent of all the cattle in the 1 1 far Western States are grazed at least 

 a part of the year on the national forests. The need for better 

 methods of range management, whereby the quantity of forage 

 available is increased and its most effective utilization promoted, is 

 heightened by the increasing dependence of the western live-stock 

 industry on the national forests for summer range. Agricultural 

 settlement and the steady decline in carrying capacity of the public 

 domain are destroying the balance between summer and winter 

 feed. To meet the demands of the future the productivity of 

 forest ranges must be raised. 



This necessitates a more scientific knowledge of the resource. 

 One of the requirements for developing inproved methods of manage- 

 ment is exact knowledge of the character and present condition of 

 all the ranges. This is obtained through a careful range reconnais- 

 sance and classification. The object of this work is to obtain and 

 apply accurate knowledge of the carrying capacity of the range, the 

 period during which forage can be used without injury, the class of 

 stock to which the range is best adapted, whether sheep or cattle or 

 both can use it w^ithout injury to the vegetation and secure maximum 

 production of meat and wool, and how stock should be handled 

 during different seasons of the year. With this knowledge manage- 

 ment plans are developed which provide for deferred and rotation 

 grazing, permitting a part of each range to be reseeded with the 

 most valuable and nutritious species at regular intervals; salting 

 plans, which regulate the distribution of stock on the range at proper 

 seasons; the construction of improvements; and the most beneficial 

 methods of herding. 



To carry this work forward at the rate required an enlargement 

 of the technical grazing personnel is essential. The grazing specialist 



