A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1539 



In the case of critical areas, public ownership and management will 

 probably be the only effective solution. In the section of this report 

 entitled "The Probable Future Distribution of Forest Land Owner- 

 ship", it is recommended that 41 million acres of forest land in the 

 West having a major watershed-protection influence be purchased or 

 otherwise acquired from private owners and administered by public 

 agencies to assure satisfactory watershed protection. Probably 

 two thirds of this area proposed for public acquisition is grazed. 



A small additional area of private forest range land should be 

 acquired by the public by purchase or exchange in order to consolidate 

 existing units of publicly owned land and thus facilitate their proper 

 management. 



EXISTING FEDERAL RESERVATIONS 



About 64 million acres, or nearly two thirds, of the publicly owned 

 or managed forest range lands in the West is within the national 

 forests. The administrative aim on the national forests, of obtaining 

 as fully beneficial use of the various resources of the land as is con- 

 sistent with their permanent conservation, has resulted, on the 

 average, in a marked improvement of forage conditions. This in 

 turn has tended to stabilize livestock production on national forests 

 and to furnish an improvement in watershed-protective values and in 

 conditions favorable for wild life. Such administration should be 

 continued and management should be improved as research results 

 and more accurate information concerning the grazing resource become 

 available. Development of range improvements such as fences and 

 watering places should progress steadily. About 90 percent of the 

 900,000 acres of western forest land recommended for artificial 

 revegetation in the section of this report entitled "A Watershed 

 Protection Program" is within the national forests. In addition to 

 this area on which artificial reseeding could be applied on the basis 

 of present knowledge, there are very large acreages within the national 

 forests and elsewhere, particularly at the lower elevations, on which 

 artificial reseeding is desirable but will require further research. 



Within the Indian reservations, on which the aim is to obtain 

 maximum benefit for the Indians, there is need for an intensification of 

 field administration and management, as outlined by Muck, Melis, 

 and Nyce, 1 with special emphasis upon sustained forage production 

 and effective protection of forest-land resources. 



The area of grazed forest land in other Federal reservations is 

 relatively small. On most of it, grazing is administered in such a 

 manner as to have the least possible influence on the major use of 

 the area. Within the national parks, for example, grazing, where 

 still permitted, is subordinated to recreational and inspirational 

 values. 



SOUTHERN FOREST RANGES 



In the South the forest range problem at the present time is almost 

 entirely restricted to privately owned land; nearly 98 percent of the 

 southern forest area grazed by domestic livestock is in private owner- 

 ship. As public agencies continue to acquire forest land, administra- 



1 Muck, Lee, Melis, P. E., and Nyce, G. M. An Economic Survey of the Range Resources and Grazing 

 Activities on Indian Reservations. Hearings before a Subcommittee of the Committee on Indian Affairs, 

 United States Senate, Seventy-first Congress, Second Session. S.Res. 79, 308 (70th Cong.), and S.Res. 

 263 and 416 (71st Cong.), 1932. 



