MONTANA RANGELAND RESOURCE PROGRAM 

 PROGRESS REPORT 



Pete Jackson 



Since the last issue of 

 Treasure Acres, the Rangeland 

 Resource Program has completed 

 the first phase of implementation 

 by obtaining sponsoring groups in 

 every county in the state. These 

 sponsors have named an individual 

 to act as their county rangeland 

 resource leader and I would like 

 to comment that the caliber of 

 these individuals is extremely 

 high which reflects the impor- 

 tance placed in the program. We 

 have recently completed a series 

 of 7 meetings with the county 

 leaders to outline suggested pro- 

 jects for their programs in 19 73. 



The highest priority for the 

 leaders this year will be a 

 rangeland inventory, which will 

 reflect the ownership of the 

 rangelands, their condition, the 

 demands that are being placed 

 upon them by the general public, 

 the critical wild life habitat 

 areas, stock water developments 

 and recreational locations. This 

 information will be available in 

 a small publication which the 

 leaders can distribute to 

 various organizations and groups 

 to make them aware of the vital 

 importance of the rangelands 

 to the economy and general 

 well being of the people of 

 Montana . 



Education is probably the 

 largest single program that 

 the leaders will be working with. 

 1973 will see our leaders arrang- 

 ing for range tours for ranchers , 

 businessmen, ministers, and 

 children. These tours will be 

 conducted in many forms from 

 large well coordinated tours 

 to small informal ones attended 

 by a few professional ranchers 



looking for technical advice. 



The leaders will be work- 

 ing with the young people thru 

 the 4-H, FFA and Scouting pro- 

 grams giving presentations or 

 arranging for technical people 

 to explain the range management 

 projects. 



The importance of the range 

 lands to the downtown business 

 and urban folks will be empha- 

 sized by giving presentations 

 to Chambers of Commerce, Lions 

 Clubs, Rotary and other civic 

 organizations . 



Today there is a growing 

 importance placed on land use 

 planning. The county leaders 

 will be presenting the range- 

 land resource program to county 

 planning boards when they are 

 established to make them aware 

 of the importance of the range- 

 lands in general comprehensive 

 land use planning. The leaders 

 will be offering their assis- 

 tance or arranging for technical 

 people to be drawn into the 

 planning process. 



It is always very gratify- 

 ing to see the originality and 

 aggressiveness of these individ- 

 ual leaders and the manner in 

 which they have organized their 

 particular county program. For 

 example, several counties have 

 developed committees which repre- 

 sent a wide variety of interests 

 and I feel that this is an excel- 

 lent approach. 



The Rangeland Resource Pro- 

 gram is becoming widely know as 

 an energetic statewide land use 

 program and has again proven that 

 the local people are the most 

 logical persons to get action in 

 programs that deal with natural 

 resources, their planning, use 

 and development. 



