ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 



The Forest-Range Environmental Study was a major 

 Agency effort. It involved personnel from each of the 

 nine Forest Service administrative regions, the eight 

 Forest and Range Experiment Stations, and the two 

 State and Private Forestry Areas, in addition to many 

 headquarters office personnel. Because of the multi- 

 resource flavor, professionals from many scientific and 

 administrative disciplines contributed. Among the 

 many disciplines represented were: forestry, range, 

 ecology, watershed, hydrology, soils, economics, recrea- 

 tion, landscape architecture, and computer science. A 

 Forest-Range Task Force consisting of a representative 

 from each of the three major Forest Service program 

 areas — National Forest System, State and Private 

 Forestry, and Research — directed the study. 



However, Federal agencies in addition to the Forest 

 Service participated in the study. Furnishing data and 

 advice were: Bureau of Land Management, National 

 Park Service, Fish and Wildlife Service, and Bureau 

 of Indian Affairs of the Department of the Interior; 

 and Economic Research, Soil Conservation Service, and 

 Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service of 

 the U.S. Department of Agriculture. 



The study effort required new analytical approaches 

 involving systems analysis and computer capability. 

 The necessary capability was developed under a coop- 



erative program with the Economic Research Service 

 of USDA and the University of Nebraska Computing 



Center. 



To individually name here the contributors who in- 

 vested heavily of their time and energies would do 

 disservice to many others, some of whose contributions, 

 though of short duration, provided conceptual break- 

 through. The Forest-Range Task Force, however, 

 wishes to recognize here the significant contributions 

 of Melvin D. Bellinger, Gilbert Duran, Jr., Vinson L. 

 Duvall, H. Fred Kaiser, Clark Row, Dixie Smith, and 

 David Worley, Forest Service, and John Putman, Eco- 

 nomic Research Service. These individuals served as 

 a working group throughout the Study. Others who 

 participated are listed on page 147. The sustained 

 productive contributions of fellow Task Force member, 

 R. Z. Callaham, Forest Service, greatly facilitated 

 completion of the Study. 



Robert S. Rummell, Chairman 

 Forest-Range Task Force 

 Forest Service 

 U.S. Department of Agriculture 



Abstract 



Forest-Range Task Force 



1972. The Nation's Range Resources — A Forest-Range Environmental 

 Study. Forest Resource Report No. 19, USDA Forest Service, Washington, 

 D.C., 147 pp., illus. 



A system was developed for categorizing the forest and range area of the 

 48 conterminous United States into major ecosystems. These ecosystems were 

 divided according to ownership, productivity, and condition into resource units, 

 land area determined, and 1970 grazing production and 21 other outputs esti- 

 mated. Yield of all outputs in each of 956 resource units was estimated under 

 six simulated levels of management. Demand was derived for livestock grazing 

 and estimated for other forest-range outputs. An analytical system was devel- 

 oped with a minimum cost objective function and used to suggest management 

 mixes to achieve national goals for forest-range livestock production at mini- 

 mum cost when modified by environmental or social considerations. Policy 

 alternatives for meeting long-run policy objectives were evaluated and conclu- 

 sions drawn about forest-range grazing. 



Keywords: Forest and range ecosystems, ecosystem classification, multi- 

 resource planning, resource allocation model, resource decision alternatives. 



Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 72-600160 



