Figure 7— Ownership of forest and range land. 



Nonfederal 66.2 Nonfederal 57.3 



Federal 33.8 Federal 42.7 



Forest land Range land 



Rangeland. A little less than half of the 1 .7 billion acres of forest and rangelands is 

 currently classified as rangeland — land on which the native vegetation (climax or 

 natural potential plant communities) is predominantly grasses, grasslike plants, forbs, 

 or shrubs suitable for grazing or browsing use by wildlife or domestic livestock. It 

 includes natural grasslands, savannas, most deserts, shrublands, tundra, alpine plant 

 communities, coastal marshes, wet meadows, and introduced plant communities 

 managed like rangelands. Most of the Nation's rangeland is found between the Great 

 Plains and Pacific Coast, and in Alaska. Land east of the Great Plains is forested or 

 managed in such a way as to preclude its classification as rangeland. 



Some 43 percent of the Nation's rangeland is in Federal ownership (app. table 1 and 

 fig. 7) Federal rangeland is found mostly in the arid and semiarid lands of the South- 

 west and the tundra, shrub, and muskeg-bog lands of interior Alaska. Rangeland in 

 private ownership is concentrated in the Rocky Mountain and Great Plains States. 

 Private lands provide most of the forage for domestic livestock; only 10 percent of 

 total forage consumption by domestic livestock is provided by public rangelands. Both 

 public and private rangelands also provide forage for wild herbivores, are habitat for a 

 variety of wildlife, and are used for recreation opportunities. 



Forest Land. Almost half of the 1 .7 billion acres of forest and rangelands is classified 

 as forest land — land that is at least 10 percent stocked with trees, or that formerly had 

 such cover, and not developed for other purposes (Powell, et al., 1993). Forest land is 

 evenly divided between the Eastern and Western United States. 



The two-thirds of the forest land (490 million acres) that can grow more than 20 cubic 

 feet of industrial wood per acre per year is called timberland. Most of the timber 

 harvested for roundwood products comes from this part of the forest resource base. 

 Nearly three-quarters of the timberland is in the eastern half of the country, while in 

 the Western United States timberland is found primarily in Montana, Idaho, Colorado, 

 and the Pacific Coast States. 



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