Wy education in range has led me to some conclusions. One in particular 

 that I think you will agree with. No matter how I look at the range resource, 

 it must be one of the most complex and natural associations that we as people 

 have to face, deal with or understand. This complexity arises from the fact 

 that native range as we know it today, is the integration of all of those 

 environmental factors that affect plant growth over a long period of time. 



I guess I want to stress that point for several reasons; one of course 

 is that we talk about renovation, reclamation and "putting it back the way it 

 was". We in education and research have a responsibility to learn as much 

 from what we have today, to evaluate what it was in the past, and to determine 

 what it could be in the future. We must try to identify, to measure, and to 

 interpret all of those environmental factors that together affect the composi- 

 tion and productivity of our range resource. Recognizing the contributions 

 that have been made by those who have developed the art of range management, 

 we try to take the scientific approach. This means that we apply the prin- 

 ciples of the various recognized disciplines such as botany, ecology, physiol- 

 ogy, hydrology and many others. Each has a contribution to make, but the con- 

 dition of the range resource is determined by the integration of all the dis- 

 ciplines as they affect range productivity. This is basis for the development 

 of the science of range management. 



What makes the range resource so complex? Part of the answer lies in 

 the fact that the range is harvested by grazing livestock and therefore har- 

 vested over a period of time. With domestic animals, we have some control 

 over grazing. The questions then become: How much and by what kind of animal 

 and when? These decisions are influenced by the species composition, pala- 

 tability of these species, the moisture relationship and climatic factors 

 among others. We must tie all of these together to totally evaluate each 

 different ownership patterns and arrangements; public and private for example. 

 It is interesting to note that Montana private range managers control a much 

 larger portion of the range in this state than private individuals do in 

 neighboring states. I think this is on the plus side. Public lands are under 

 regulations that become controversial, but I will not involve myself in that 

 matter. The problem that is very real however is that these rules and reg- 

 ulations continue to change which leads to instability and presents the op- 

 erator with problems in formulating a range plan. As you know, public lands 



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