THE IMPORTANCE OP RESEARCH AND EDUCATION 

 TO THE RANGE RESOURCE 



By J. A. Asleson 



Ladies and gentlemen. It is an honor to be here this morning, but after 

 listening to the presentations we have had so far I really don't have much 

 to say, but I guess I will say it anyway. Dr. Dyksterhuis, said something 

 about the easterners (and I believe he included the mid-westerners) really 

 not having the term "rangeland" in their vocabulary. This is certainly true; 

 at least it was true when I grew up there and went to school there, tfy real 

 introduction to rangeland was not the kind that you would use in a promotion 

 scheme. I accepted a job at Montana State University effective August 1, 1947. 

 Neither tny wife nor I had ever been west. We drove across South Dakota reaching 

 the Bad Lands of the state with the temperature of at least 110°. We were un- 

 comfortable, getting a little edgy, and kept telling ourselves, "It will be 

 different when we get into Montana". Yes, it was different for someone raised 

 in Wisconsin. When we crossed into the southeastern part of the state and 

 looked at the endless rangeland, I couldn't help but wonder why they had hired 

 a soils man to come here. To use a timewom phrase, "I had never seen so much 

 of nothing in all my life". 



My second experience was a little different. Some of you may remember 

 Maiirice Kelso, Director of the Agricultural Experiment Station from 1954-57' 

 Maiorice was and is a remarkable man. After some time with the Bureau of Land 

 Management in Washington, D. C. he spent three years managing a ranch near 

 Broadus. From there he came to the University. Shortly after I moved into 

 the Director's Office he took me on a tour of the branch stations around the 

 state. I remember we started up the west side of the state, crossed over 

 Glacier Park and headed east of Browning. As I looked at the landscape, I 

 noticed a farmstead setting high on the horizon. There were no trees or other 

 vegetation that I could see. I made the comment, "Boy, you talk about des- 

 olation, that is the height of it right there". I should have recorded the 

 next half hour because Maurice proceeded to straighten roe out. In effect he 

 said, what makes you think that a tree is so all important to living the way 

 a man should live, and we went on from there. I was quiet. That is when my 

 education started and I guess I am still trying to get educated and will be 

 until I pass on. 



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