PANEL DISCUSSION 



COORDINATED PLANNING OP INTERMINGLED OWNERSHIP 



Ted Russell 



When you realize that "in the 11 Western States, the area of range- 

 land available for grazing is decreasing at the rate of I.4 million acres 

 per year," you wonder why coordinated planning of intermingled ownerships 

 isn't axiomatic. There ought to be a law against doing any other kind of 

 range management planning where intermingled land ownership exists! In 

 Montana, forage producing areas are diminishing as industrial uses encroach 

 on productive lands, and the better lands are converted to grain production 

 and non-agricultural uses, such as roads and housing development. 



Montana has 95 million acres of which 70 percent is grazed by livestock. 

 Federal lands represent 25 percent of these lands. Even though the National 

 Forests represent the smaller portion (5-7 million acres) of these I6.5 mil- 

 lion acres, we think it is a very important portion, principally from the 

 interdependancy certain range livestock enterprises have for summer ranges 

 and the positive influences that managed livestock grazing has on the envir- 

 onment of National Forest ranges. 



Increasing Demand 



"Based on current trends, the Council for Agricultural Science and 

 Technology estimated increases in U.S. consumer demand for beef will require 

 an additional 13 to I4 million beef cows by 1985 — an increase of about 3O 

 percent over the current numbers." Everyone realizes we had a large decline 

 in beef cattle numbers in 1975- This, along with reduced replacement heifers 

 going into the herd, doesn't indicate that the U.S. consumer is demanding 

 additional beef. However, Montana's beef cow numbers have gained JOfOOO 

 from 1971 through 1976. 



The Forest Service's 1975 Assessment of the Nation's Renewable Resources 

 assumes that nationwide we will need to increase production on National For- 

 est System lands from 11 million animal unit months to 20 million animal unit 

 months by 2020. This prediction is based on 82 million more people with ap- 

 proximately three times (from $3,257 to $10,650) the per capita disposable 

 personal income by 2020. 



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