some forest ecosystems. Management 
of the range resource affects a number 
of resource outputs, including forage 
production, water yields and quality, 
wildlife and fish populations, and the 
suitability of the land for various kinds 
of outdoor recreation (fig. 20). In 
addition, managers of public rangeland 
must keep in mind provisions of the 
Wild Horses and Burros Protection Act 
of 1971 and the Endangered Species 
Act of 1973. The range forage 
assessment in this document 
concentrates on the forage resource that 
comes from rangelands. 
The demand for range forage for use in 
feeding domestic livestock competes 
with the use of forests and rangelands 
for wildlife, watershed protection, 
recreation, and other outputs. The 
forage demand for domestic livestock 
is derived from consumers’ demands 
for livestock outputs such as meat, 
hides, tallow, and other products 
produced from grazing animals. Thus 
the demand for forage will be affected 
by factors such as changes in 
Figure 20—Range management affects not only 
forage production but also water yields and 
quality, wildlife and fish populations, and the 
suitability of the land for various kinds of 
outdoor recreation. 
Figure 19—Irrigation is expected to be the most important consumptive use of water. (Photo 
courtesy of USDA Soil Conservation Service.) 
technology producing feed 
substitutions or feed mixtures, and the 
demand for meat. We therefore 
analyzed the demand for forage as 
being derived from the demand for 
livestock and meat production. 
Projections of the forage demand for 
wildlife are derived from wildlife 
population projections presented in the 
demand-—supply outlook for wildlife 
and fish. 
The reliance of livestock operations on 
grazed forages varies by type of 
animal. Dairy cattle and horses use 
small amounts of grazed forage, but 61 
percent of the annual feed requirements 
for beef cattle and some 90 percent of 
the feed requirements for sheep and 
goats are supplied by grazed forages. 
Wild herbivores obtain nearly all their 
feed needs from grazed forages. The 17 
coterminous Western States support 
about 85 percent of the Nation’s sheep 
inventory, and sheep production in this 
region is heavily dependent on grazing. 
Forage produced on the lands managed 
by the Forest Service and Bureau of 
Land Management amounts to about 7 
percent of the total forage consumed by 
domestic livestock in the United States 
(app. table 9). Forage produced on 
private lands represents 88 percent of 
the total grazed forages produced, and 
crop residue, the remaining 5 percent. 
The relative importance of public 
grazing lands as a source of forage for 
beef cattle and sheep varies around the 
country. Public grazing land 
contributes more than 50 percent of the 
total feed mix in the Pacific Northwest. 
In all other regions, private lands 
provide most of the forage needed for 
beef cattle and sheep. Seasonal 
availability of even a small percentage 
of the total feed mix on public lands is 
critical in maintaining livestock 
operations or viability of wildlife 
herds, however. 
