The rest is in a variety of holdings. 
servative grazing; in affording Nation-wide pro- 
tection against fire and other hazards; and in edu- 
cating both the general public and private owners 
as to watershed-protection needs. 
The Forest Range Resource 
Forage is a valuable product of many forest 
lands, in some regions second only to timber as 
a source of direct revenue. To use it efficiently 
and in harmony with other uses requires good 
management; for unwise or too heavy grazing not 
only reduces the successive forage crops, but also 
may impair the land—its timber crops and useful- 
ness for watershed protection, recreation, and other 
purposes. 
About 350 million acres—more than half the 
forest land—is used as range. In the West there 
is roughly 155 million acreas, of which about two- 
thirds is in Federal ownership or control, as 
follows: 
Western forest range, 1945 
million 
acres percent 
Ownership or control: 
National torestse irae ee reels 64.1 4] 
Indianolamdsie ws; yen eS ees ee a 12.2 8 
Grazing districts and other Federal... 21.7 14 
Total Federal 98.0 63 
State and county 4.9 3 
Brivale mec islian ONC emo arc cohen Mle ey: 52.1 34 
All ownershipss 23) 20 cosscsenscrecks 155.0 100 
Many of 
these are small livestock enterprises that are largely 
dependent on adjacent public lands for grazing. 
Forest range furnishes an important source of 
income for thousands of western stockmen. 
About 99 million acres of the western forest 
‘range is open forest types like ponderosa pine and 
aspen. ‘These afford much of the spring, summer, 
and fall range for cattle and sheep and support 
most of the big game. They are low-cost produc- 
ing areas for feeder livestock and for the bulk of 
the fat lambs marketed in summer. Another 43 
million acres is pinyon-juniper lands, chiefly in the 
Southwest. The rest is mainly scrubby woodland 
chaparral in the foothill country, much used for 
winter and spring grazing. 
East of the Plains, there is 195 million acres of 
forest range, mostly in farm woodlands and other 
small private holdings. About 142 million acres 
is in the South, where more than three-fourths of 
the forest land, including most of the piney woods, 
is grazed. Here forests furnish reasonably good 
low-cost forage in spring and summer—although 
of indifferent quality later—for millions of farm 
Forests and National Prosperity 
animals. 
This has great economic value to rural 
people, and provides. opportunity for badly needed 
diversification of agriculture. 
Forest range is currently in strong demand in 
all parts of the country. Indicative of this de- 
mand are the numbers of livestock, exclusive of 
‘dairy cows, in the 11 Western States—11.2 million 
cattle and 13.9 million stock sheep?® in January, 
1947. Even though there has been a moderate 
decline in cattle numbers and a material decline 
in sheep since the peak during World War II, the 
western range livestock population expressed in 
animal units is 10 percent above the average of the 
four prosperous years 1926-29 and 5 percent above 
the 4-year period preceding World War II (fig. 19). 
Recent declines in numbers, while favorable, are 
not sufficient to relieve western forest ranges of 
rather general heavy grazing. In seven Southern 
States cattle numbers have increased about 25 per- 
cent in the last 10 years. Elsewhere, there has 
been a similar upsurge followed by a moderate de- 
cline. Looking ahead, demand for livestock prod- 
ucts is likely to continue high. This means that 
forest ranges will probably be under continuing 
pressure to carry as many livestock as possible. 
Throughout much of the West there is wide- 
spread depletion of forest ranges. Most of the 
western ranges were fully stocked before 1900, and 
in many instances they were overgrazed and dete- 
riorating. ‘They deteriorated further as a result of 
too heavy stocking during World War I and again 
in the early and mid-thirties. Many have failed 
to recover. However, some in the national forests 
and well-managed private ranches have improved 
considerably over the years. 
Although current data are meager, rough esti- 
mates indicate that about two-thirds of the west- 
ern forest range is in unsatisfactory condition. 
The worst is the pinyon-juniper range, mostly in 
the arid Southwest; the least depleted is that of the 
open forest types, chiefly within national forests. 
The hardwood forests east of the Plains have 
also been badly damaged by grazing; here, how- 
ever, impairment of timber and watershed values 
is the main consideration. In many instances live- 
stock should be excluded or greatly reduced in 
numbers. On the other hand, few of the pine 
forest ranges of the South are overgrazed. 
Putting the Nation’s forest ranges in good con- 
dition is an important aspect of the forestry job. 
First of all, deterioration of forage and other values 
*° Sheep other than those being fed for market. 
71 
