ANIMAL UNIT MONTHS BY ECOGROUP 

 1970 AND ALTERNATIVE 19 



160 



1970 

 Alternative 19 



120 



80 



■ ii 

 JEK 



1 40 



WESTERN 

 RANGE 



WESTERN 

 FOREST 



GREAT 

 PLAINS 



EASTERN 

 FOREST 



Figure 49. 



some resource units because they produced at a 

 lower cost per animal unit month. 



Grazing would increase in the Great Plains 

 ecogroup from 93 million animal unit months 

 in 1970 to 96 million in year 2000 under the 

 conditions of Alternative 19. This is an increase 

 of only 3 percent over the 1970 level, but under 

 the unconstrained Alternative 20, production 

 in the ecogroup would have decreased by 14 

 percent. The difference between the constrained 

 Alternative 19 and the unconstrained Alterna- 

 tive 20 is the limit on change in grazed acreage 

 and in the management strategies. The capacity 

 for increased production in the Eastern Forest 

 ecogroup through Strategy E management in 

 some areas under Alternative 20 is eliminated 

 in Alternative 19. Thus, production would be 

 forced back to the Great Plains, the next most 

 efficient ecogroup. 



In the Eastern Forest ecogroup the produc- 

 tion of grazing would increase from 53 million 

 anim.al unit months in 1970 to 132 million in 



year 2000 under the conditions of Alternative 

 19. This is an increase of 147 percent, while 

 the national total is increasing by only 50 per- 

 cent. However, under the unconstrained least- 

 cost Alternative 20, with a total production of 

 320 million animal unit months, the output for 

 the Eastern Forest ecogroup would be 174 

 million animal unit months, a 230 percent in- 

 crease. Since the basic criteria of least-cost for 

 allocating grazed acres remains the same, the 

 difference between 132 million and 174 million 

 animal unit months results from the limits 

 placed on change and the prohibition of the 

 use of Strategy E in forested ecosystems. 



The impact of the conditions of Alternative 

 19 on the acreage grazed varies among the 

 three ownerships. The total acreage of the 

 forest-range environment grazed would in- 

 crease, and this increase is shared by all own- 

 erships. The grazed acreage in non-Federal 

 ownership would increase only slightly, from 

 564 million acres in 1970 to 570 million in year 



85 



