Forest Land 
Non-Federal 
Federal 
Figure 5—Percentage of forest and range land by ownership. 
Generally, in the East, the law of 
riparian rights entitles adjacent riparian 
landowners to reasonable use of 
streamflow in competition with those 
who divert the stream for economic 
uses. The major thrust of the riparian 
law has been to protect private rather 
than public rights. 
Access rights for recreational use of 
water are also complex. In general, 
trespass laws apply to land adjoining 
water, and private owners can deny 
access. Once access has been achieved, 
however, water can generally be used 
for recreation despite the existence of 
adjacent, posted land. 
Thus, well over one-half of the 
Nation’s forest and range land is in 
private ownership, and rights to water 
use are predominantly in the hands of 
the private sector. The dominant 
ownership of resources by the private 
sector is reflected in the analyses of 
demands and supplies presented later in 
this Assessment. 
Productivity of Forest and 
Range Lands and Water 
The productivity (output per acre or 
other measure of input) of forest and 
range lands varies widely as a result of 
differences in climate, soils, elevation, 
and latitude. Over the years, public and 
private forestry activities have 
demonstrated that the land is 
responsive to management and that 
productivity and resource quality can 
be increased through management. For 
example, one measure of 
productivity—an index of softwood 
growing stock growth per unit of 
inventory—has been increasing over 
the past several decades (fig. 6, app. 
table 3). This same measure for 
hardwoods has been declining because 
we are harvesting only half the growth 
(fig. 7, app. table 4). By any measure, 
the biological potential exists to 
increase the output of all renewable 
resource products. New technology or 
the wider use of existing technology 
Range Land 
Federal 
Non-Federal 
from research is another source of 
higher productivity. The economic 
efficiency of any investment depends 
on the specifics of costs and revenues. 
Costs and revenues associated with 
investments are not generally 
considered explicitly in this 
Assessment document, but they are 
considered in the development of the 
1990 RPA Program. 
Water yields from forest and range 
lands can be improved by various 
management practices. Water quality 
can be improved, and flooding and soil 
erosion and the associated 
sedimentation of streams can be 
restrained. 
Forest and range lands in the United 
States provide forage and browse for 
over 70 million cattle, 8 million sheep, 
55,000 wild horses and burros, 20 
million deer, 400,000 elk, 600,000 
antelope, and many other grazing 
animals. Vegetation management 
