SUGGESTIONS FOR INSTRUCTION IN RANGE 

 MANAGEMENT 



By Arthur W. Sampson 

 Plajit Ecologist, U. S. Forest Service 



(Director, Great Basin Experiment Station) 



The advancement in forestry methods in this country during the past 

 decade is very marked. That forest schools are deserving of much 

 credit for this advancement requires no argument. An analysis of the 

 motive force back of the development of improved forestry practice 

 generally, and especially of the development of the more fundamental 

 principles that are now being applied, places the college-bred forester 

 in the forefront of achievements. The forester who succeeds must 

 sooner or later assume great responsibility in the management of public 

 property, the value of which can be only approximately estimated. Not 

 only must he be prepared to manage forest resources on an immediate 

 economical and business basis, but he must look ahead with a view 

 toward continued production. 



The forester, to be entirely successful, must be trained in all the 

 major lines of forestry business, for upon his shoulders the responsi- 

 bility of the future management of our forests will very largely rest. 

 The majority of the forest schools have been making efforts to shape 

 their courses to meet the new requirements. However, one highly im- 

 portant phase of forestry business, namely, range and live-stock man- 

 agement, has, up to the present time, been all but overlooked. 



When one stops to consider that there is no other single activity on 

 our National Forests that exercises so profound and immediate an in- 

 fluence upon the people of the communities adjacent to the Forests as 

 does range and live-stock management, it is truly amazing that thorough- 

 going courses in this field of activity have not long since been included 

 in the curricula of the leading forest schools. Failure to include grazing 

 courses in their curricula is no doubt largely accounted for by the fact 

 that the science of range management has developed with unusual 

 rapidity. Relatively little fundamental information in the handling of 

 the broader range problems was available ten years ago ; but, owing to 

 the need for improved management of the range, many principles of 

 far-reaching application have been developed. 



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