( i ) Grazing-management studies, which aim to determine the grazing 

 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 harmonize grazing with watershed management, 

 timber production, fire protection, wildlife conservation, and other land 

 values. 



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

 ysis of information on the identity, distribution, life histories, and forage, 

 watershed, and other values of range plants. 



(3) Artificial-re see ding investigations, which aim to determine which 

 native species justify selection for revegetation, the possibilities of adapting 

 native and introduced species to seeding or transplanting, and to determine 

 how these plants can be most economically reproduced and established on 

 range lands under varying conditions of climate, soil, and range-forage 

 depletion. 



FOREST ECONOMICS 



Research in forest economics covers the entire range of economic and 

 social problems associated with the production and utilization of forest 

 resources, particularly forest-land use and management. 



Correlated projects under way include studies to determine the economic 

 feasibility of timber growing; equitable methods of forest taxation; the 

 possibility and principles of forest insurance; the extent of tax delinquency 

 and reversion to public ownership of forest land and the practicability of 

 remedial measures; and the collection, classification, and interpretation, in 

 cooperation with the Bureau of the Census, of economic data on the produc- 

 tion, distribution, consumption, and price of forest products. 



A comprehensive survey of the forest resources and requirements of the 

 United States is now in progress. This Nation-wide study involves an in- 

 ventory of the extent, location, and condition of forest lands; the quantity, 

 kinds, 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 probable future require- 

 ments for forest products in different parts of the country, by all classes of 

 consumers. The survey attempts to interpret and correlate these findings 

 with related social and economic factors as a basis for formulating policies, 

 principles, and plans of forest-land management and use, both public and 

 private. 



FOREST INFLUENCES 



Closely coordinated with forest and range research are investigations of 

 forest influences to determine the effect of forests, brush, and other natural 

 cover upon water, soil, and climate. Such studies are under way at a num- 

 ber of forest experiment stations with special emphasis on the extent to 

 which natural vegetation may be supplemented by minor engineering works, 

 and whether or not timber cutting, livestock grazing, and other uses of the 

 forest and range cover adversely affect the water flow. 



A major concern, as already noted, is the influence of forests on floods. 

 Under the Flood Control Act, the Forest Service plays an important part 

 in the Department of Agriculture program to determine the measures 

 which should be taken to control floods on our major watersheds. Foresters 

 believe that the control of water at the place where rain falls or snow melts 

 has a marked bearing upon other flood-control operations. 



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