FOREST RANGES 



By W. R. CHAPLINE, Chief, Division of Range Research, and R. S. CAMPBELL, 

 Associate Forest Ecologist, Southwestern Forest and Range Experiment 

 Station 1 



CONTENTS 



Page 



Forage An important forest-land resource 527 



Western forest ranges 528 



Extent and importance 528 



Forage produced 530 



Forest-range conditions 532 



Management problems 534 



Principles of management 540 



Other features of forest-range management 543 



The situation in different ownerships 544 



Forest ranges in the South 547 



Feed produced on forest lands 549 



Forest-range problems 550 



Forest grazing in the Central, Lake, Middle Atlantic, and New England 



States 552 



The forage on forest lands 552 



Forest-grazing problems 553 



FOKAGE AN IMPORTANT FOREST LAND RESOURCE 



The forage produced by herbaceous and shrubby plants under the 

 trees and in openings in the forest is one of the major resources of 

 forest lands. The proper utilization of the forage resource by domes- 

 tic livestock and game animals is therefore of primary importance in 

 multiple-use management which seeks to obtain the maximum con- 

 tribution to the national welfare, by a proper correlation of all the 

 products, uses, and services of forest lands. The forage cover of 

 forest lands plays an important role in the production of the Nation's 

 domestic meat and wool supply and furnishes a livelihood to the 

 stockmen whose herds or flocks graze it. It also supports a large and 

 valuable wild-life resource and produces numerous miscellaneous 

 by-products. 



The use of the forage resource of forest lands primarily by domestic 

 livestock, but to an important extent in some localities by game 

 animals, vitally affects the management of such lands in several ways: 

 (1) It is a source of direct current financial return; (2) it affects the 

 reproduction of the timber crop ; (3) it has a direct bearing on the value 

 of the forest land for watershed protection, and (4) it has a direct 

 influence on fire protection. 



The forest land grazing problem logically divides into three import- 

 ant phases : The western-range phase, that which predominates in the 

 South, and the pasture type in the farm woodlands. In the West 

 the problem centers around the utilization of large areas principally 

 of public land by many private owners of ranch property and live- 

 stock. In the South it largely concerns the use of extensive pri- 

 vate forest areas often not owned by the stockman yet of decided 

 value to the rural population. In the farming regions of the Central 

 States, and in parts of the New England, Middle Atlantic, and Lake 

 States, it involves small woodland areas on farms into which the 



1 Acknowledgment is due George Stewart, Hugh O. Cassidy, and Gordon D. Merrick for cooperation 

 in the assembling of data for this section. 



527 



