3IO FORAGE ESTIMATES 



(about 1.000,000 acres) is so great, and the surface and plant 

 types are so varied, that no person can form a mental picture 

 in sufficient detail of any one National Forest as a whole to serve 

 in the judicious administration of either its grazing or timber 

 crops. Having recognized the value of a systematic compilation 

 of the forest resources, foresters are also fully in agreement with 

 the truism that without such compilations " one cannot see the 

 forest for the trees." It has been shown that when the National 

 Forests were created the greater part of the lands was grazed 

 annually with no regulation of the cropping. Almost every- 

 where on the heavily grazed Forest ranges there were glaring 

 and sad examples of the ill effects of " free " range. It was clear 

 that in order to protect these vast public interests it was neces- 

 sary to control the grazing. The adoption of a controlling 

 measure has resulted beneficially in the protection and further 

 development of the hvestock industry on lands adjacent to the 

 Forests as well as on the National Forest lands themselves. 



When the administration of the National Forests was first 

 undertaken by the Federal Government it was possible to correct 

 only the more glaring misuses of the range and other Forest 

 resources. As time went on, however, the desire for the better 

 protection and conservation of the products of the Forests on 

 the part of the Government and the increased demand for a 

 share in the use of the choice summer range on the part of the 

 stockmen, led to a greatly refined and improved management 

 of the range. It was, of course, essential, both in the interest 

 of the livestock industry and of the Forests themselves, that the 

 grazing lands should be used to the best advantage possible. 

 The only way this could be accomplished without seriously cur- 

 taihng the grazing was to develop and apply better methods of 

 handling both the stock and the range. In later years this has 

 been greatly assisted by grazing reconnaissance. 



The first serious attempt to develop methods in grazing recon- 

 naissance and to organize a party to record data pertaining to 

 the improvement of range management, was in 191 1 when the 

 study was initiated on the Coconino National Forest in northern 

 Arizona. The original grazing reconnaissance plans were de- 



