26 CIRCULAR 6 36, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



Most of the land used for agriculture, which includes livestock pro- 

 duction on range land as well as crop and livestock production on 

 farms, is in private ownership. The rest is found in public grazing 

 lands, national forests, or other publicly owned lands on which private 

 interests have leased agricultural use rights. Even on these publicly 

 owned lands, agricultural uses have priority rights to the extent of the 

 lease, which may approach the carrying capacity of the range. 



The Land Planning Committee of the National Resources Board, 

 in discussing grazing policies/ says, "The policy, announced by the 

 Secretary of Agriculture in 1905, at the time this department took 

 charge of the national forests, namely, that the water, food, and forest 

 should be used for the benefit of the home builder first of all, has been 

 a guiding policy in forest administration." As grazing is the princi- 

 pal economic use to which much land in the West is put, agriculture 

 assumes prfority rights in many of the nationtd forests. 



Other public agencies have followed nnich the same policy in the 

 administration of their lands. At present, however, approximately 

 one-half of the range land in the United States is privately owned, and 

 by paying grazing fees, stockmen procure interest in the public grazing 

 lands that is recognized by the administering agencies to the extent 

 that stockmen have preferential rights in the use of the range. In 

 many instances, according to the estimates of experts, the number of 

 livestock under permit is equal to the carrying capacity. Therefore, 

 under present conditions this range land is primarily devoted to agri- 

 cultural uses, with these uses of the land determining to a large extent 

 its suitability and availability for other purposes. 



The 1935 census of agriculture discloses that there were 1,054.515,111 

 acres of land in farms, which constituted 55.4 percent of the United 

 States. The Land Planning Connnittee's report of the National Re- 

 sources Board, in discussing the relation of ])asture acreage to other 

 uses of land, show^s that there were 577,900,000 acres of agricultural 

 land not in farms — that is, grazed range land, which constituted an- 

 other 30.4 percent of the United States.' Thus in 1934, 85.8 percent of 

 the United States was agricultural land. It is clearly evident that, 

 on the basis of area, agricultural land provides a A^ery large percentage 

 of the wildlife habitat in this country. 



Because every acre of agricultural land does not provide food and 

 cover for game and wild-fur animals, it seems advisable to refine this 

 estimate somewhat. Table 3 shows the classes and subclasses of land 

 and the majoi- land use areas, the acreages devoted to each, and the 

 estimated percentages and acreage of each that is now providing cover 

 or food, or both, for game and fur animals. In estimating the acreages 

 of cover and food, no attempt was made to evaluate or indicate the 

 quality or the carrying capacity of the land. But for land to be con- 

 sidered as providing food or cover, it must possess the essentials for 

 wildlife during the critical time of the year, usually late in winter or 

 early in spring, in sufficient quantities and of such qualities as to be 

 usable by the game oi- fui- animals conunon to that area. The acreages 

 given in table 3 as pi-oviding cover and food for game and fur animals 



*UxiTEi> States Xai'ional Resources Board. AORirtiLTURAL i.an'h requirements and 

 REsoii!(ES Pnrt ^ of the Supplenientarv Report of the Land IManiiiii}; rommittee. 64 pp. 

 Washington, D. C. 1035. 



" See footnote 4. p. 30. 



