1538 A NATIONAL PLAN FOB AMERICAN FORESTRY 







and communities dependent upon it. Watershed-protective values 

 of grazed forest ranges would be improved by increased vegetative 

 cover. On some areas overgrazing or other improper grazing use is 

 impairing the perpetuation of timber and wild-life resources. 



THE UNRESERVED PUBLIC DOMAIN 



Outstanding among the problems presented by the 102 million 

 acres of publicly owned or managed forest range land in the West are 

 those that have arisen on the public domain, as a result of use with- 

 out administration. Grazed lands make up 21.5 million acres of the 

 23 million acres of forest land now remaining in the public domain. 

 There is urgent need for legislation placing these lands under a type of 

 administration that will stop abuse, restore values, and stabilize 

 grazing use for local community and other public benefit. As is shown 

 in the " Other Federal Forest Land" section of this report, approxi- 

 mately 19 million acres of the public domain, including 11.5 million 

 acres of forested land, should be added to the national forests. About 



3 million acres additional, of which 1.5 million acres is forest land, 

 should be given national-forest status and held for inclusion in new 

 administrative units as these are built up by acquisition or exchange. 

 The remaining public domain, including approximately 10 million 

 acres of forested land, should be placed under Federal administration 

 that will assure satisfactory management. 



STATE FOREST RANGES 



On most State-owned forest ranges, other than those that are now 

 handled under cooperative agreement with the Forest Service, better 

 coordination of grazing with other forest uses is necessary. This 

 would best be effected by consolidating as much as possible of the 



4 million acres of grazed forest lands in State ownership into State 

 forests or other administrative units with a legal status insuring 

 sustained-yield management. On forested State lands that cannot 

 effectively be grouped into administrative units, it is essential that 

 leases include specifications as to numbers of stock to be admitted, 

 seasons of use, and other phases of management, and that field super- 

 vision be provided, in order to prevent overgrazing and assure range 

 restoration where it is needed. 



PRIVATE FOREST RANGES 



Of the 64 million acres of private forest land in the West approxi- 

 mately 42 million acres is grazed. On a high percentage of this area 

 the effort to gain the maximum current income has been carried to an 

 extreme without adequate safeguards for permanent stability of the 

 range resource. This has resulted in range depletion that not only 

 adversely affects the individual stockman but also is doing damage 

 to others, especially through impairing watershed-protective values. 

 Where it is demonstrated to stockmen using these private lands that 

 by modifying their present practices they can correct existing damage 

 to forest range resources without material loss of revenue or with an 

 eventual increase in revenue, better management of the ranges can 

 reasonably be expected. Western agricultural extension services 

 could very well give a greater place on their educational and demon- 

 strational programs to improved principles of range management. 



