A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1621 



GRAZING MANAGEMENT 



Intensification of grazing management is needed to provide ade- 

 quate protection of forage and watershed values, and to obtain 

 maximum returns from proper grazing use of the forage resource. 

 The work will be a continuing management job, and the estimated 

 needed increase over present annual expenditure is $50,000. It may 

 be found that additional increases will be needed in the future. 



Additional improvements, such as fences, watering places, count- 

 ing corrals, etc., needed to facilitate and improve the administration 

 and use of the forage resources, are a necessity in developing and 

 protecting forage and water-shed values. For this reason the work 

 and expenditures should be concentrated in the first 10-year period. 

 The increased annual expenditure needed is estimated at $180,000. 



About 100,000 acres of valuable range lands are estimated to be 

 badly infested with poisonous plants, which limit the use of such 

 areas and cause excessive losses of domestic livestock. There is, of 

 course, urgent need that this menace to livestock be removed at the 

 earliest opportunity, and the eradication work is therefore programmed 

 for the first 10-year period. Thereafter current follow-up will be 

 needed to protect the investment and maintain the value of the 

 improved ranges. It is estimated that increased annual expenditures 

 for this project should begin at about $50,000 and increase progres- 

 sively in the 10 years to about $500,000.^ 



Control of range-destroying rodents is also an important factor 

 in restoring the productivity of large areas of rodent-infested range 

 lands on the western national forests. The work, which is carried 

 on in cooperation with the Biological Survey, should be prosecuted 

 aggressively, to prevent reinfestation of areas already treated and to 

 provide adequate control on all areas. 



The bulk of the work is programmed for the first 10-year period, 

 and for this purpose increased annual expenditures are needed. 

 Increases should begin at about $50,000 and advance progressively 

 to $68,000. The work is important not only to the Federal Govern- 

 ment but to users of national-forest range. 



Serious erosion is resulting from the depletion of vegetative cover 

 on some 810,000 acres of national-forest range land and immediate 

 control is needed. Artificial reseeding will hasten the restoration of 

 vegetative cover and aid in watershed protection. Reseeding of 

 this area is planned for the next 20 years, at an estimated annual 

 expenditure of $125,000. 



RECREATION 



It is estimated that the rapid increase in the recreational use of the 

 national forests involves an increased annual expenditure of $100,000 

 adequately to handle the supervision of this activity. 



Adequate sanitation and other facilities for use of recreational 

 areas are essential to public health and to other benefits to be derived 

 from recreational use of the forest. Construction of needed recrea- 

 tional improvements is regarded as sufficiently urgent to be pro- 

 grammed for the first 5-year period, at an estimated increase in annual 

 expenditures of $450,000. 



The expansion and intensification of wild-life management work 

 needed to provide for the best use and development of the wild-life 



