WORK OF THE UNITED STATES FOREST SERVICE 



31 



quality, and availability of timber now standing on these lands; the 

 rate of depletion through cutting, fire, insects, disease, and other 

 causes; the current and probable future rate of timber growth and 

 the productive capacity of our forest area ; and the present and prob- 

 able future requirements for forest products in the different parts of 

 the country by all classes of consumers, including many major indus- 

 tries. It includes analysis of the relation of these findings to one 

 another and to other related social and economic factors as a basis for 

 formulating policies, principles, and plans of forest-land management 

 and use, both public and private. 



Figure 24. — Treating poles from the Wasatch National Forest, Utah. 



RANGE INVESTIGATIONS 



Range research furnishes the basis for sound management of forest 

 and other range lands. Its objectives are to secure and supply 

 Federal, State, and private agencies with basic information needed to 

 perpetuate and improve all range-land values. 



Range research is being carried on at the regional forest and range 

 experiment stations in the West and in Washington. It is concerned 

 primarily with three broad phases : 



(1) Grazing-management studies, which aim to determine the graz- 

 ing capacity and proper seasonal use of the various types of range, 

 develop ways and means of maintaining and increasing forage and 

 livestock production, improve methods of handling livestock on the 

 range, control losses from poisonous plants, and to harmonize grazing 

 with watershed protection, timber production, fire protection, wildlife, 

 and other land values. 



(2) Range-forage investigations, which involve the collection and 

 analysis of information on the identity, distribution, life histories, and 

 forage value, watershed, and other values of range plants. 



