2000. Grazed acreage on National Forest Sys- 

 tem lands would increase by 15 million acres 

 to 101 million acres. Grazed acreage on other 

 Federal lands would increase by 25 million 

 acres to 165 million acres. Total acreage grazed 

 would increase in both Federal ownerships by 

 18 percent over 1970. The intensity of manage- 

 ment applied varies among ownerships. 



A major variation in animal unit months 

 produced occurs under Alternative 19. In 1970 

 production on the National Forest System was 

 11 million animal unit months or 5 percent of 

 the total from the forest-range environment 

 (table 15). Under Alternative 19, the National 

 Forest System would produce 6 percent of the 

 animal unit months, as compared to 8 percent 

 under Alternative 20. Production on the Na- 

 tional Forest System under Alternative 19 

 would increase by 78 percent over the 1970 

 level. On lands administered by other Federal 

 agencies, production would increase by 49 per- 

 cent over the 1970 level, while on non-Federal 

 lands the increase would be 48 percent. 



Table 15. — Animal unit months produced by 



oivnershij) in 1970 and under Alternatives 19 



and 20 



(Totals may not add due to rounding) 



Owner- 



Resource 



Situa- 

 tion — 

 1970 



Alternative 



ship 



19 



20 



National 

 Forest 

 System 



Other 

 Federal 



Non- 

 Federal 



Million 

 AUM's 



11.3 



18.8 



183.1 



Million 

 AUM's 



20.1 



28.1 



271.5 



Percent 

 increase 



78 

 49 

 48 



Million 

 AUM's 



26.1 



31.4 



262.1 



Percent 

 increase 



131 

 67 

 43 



Total 



213.1 



319.7 



50 



319.7 



50 



Four ecosystems have been selected to illus- 

 trate details of management under Alternative 

 19 by resource units within ecosystems. The 

 ecosystems selected were Sagebrush from the 

 Western Range ecogroup, Lodgepole pine from 

 the Western Forest ecogroup. Plains grasslands 

 from the Great Plains ecogroup, and Loblolly- 

 shortleaf pine from the Eastern Forest eco- 

 group (fig. 50). 



In each ecosystem the management levels 

 were widely distributed within each resource 

 unit. Tables 16 through 19 show how the acre- 

 age for each resource unit would be most effi- 

 ciently allocated for management under Alter- 

 native 19. This distribution of acres across 

 strategies is the most efficient possible, given 

 the demands for outputs, costs, and constraints 

 included in this alternative. Similar informa- 



tion by ownership is shown in Tables 59 

 through 62. 



If the analytical procedures had not included 

 the constraints on change, management would 

 have been concentrated in two or three strat- 

 egies, and in many situations the entire re- 

 source unit would have been allocated to a 

 single optimal strategy. The management mix 

 would have resulted from selection of strategies 

 between resource units rather than within the 

 resource unit. 



The optimal strategy for a resource unit is 

 the single best option, given the simultaneous 

 consideration of other resource units and the 

 quantity of outputs required. The optimal strat- 

 egy indicates the direction toward which man- 

 agement would move if demands were increased 

 to a higher level, or if less of the forest-range 

 environment were available for livestock 

 grazing. 



Management in the Sagebrush ecosystem was 

 concentrated at the extensive (C) and intensive 

 (D) Strategies (table 16). When considered in 

 an unconstrained context, (except that Strat- 

 egy E would be prohibited on Federal lands), 

 the optimal management was the intensive 

 Strategy (D) on Federally administered re- 

 source units and the maximized livestock 

 (Strategy E) on non-Federally owned resource 

 units (table 61). A high proportion of the 

 Sagebrush ecosystem in the low productivity 

 class and poor condition was allocated for no 

 grazing (Strategy A). This low-producing, 

 poor-condition range was not competitive with 

 the Sagebrush areas in higher productivity 

 classes and in better condition. 



Acreage of the Lodgepole pine ecosystem 

 under Alternative 19 conditions was distributed 

 for grazing principally to management Strat- 

 egy B (table 17). However, in this forest 

 ecosystem about 62 percent of all the land would 

 not be grazed (Strategy A). Of the remaining 

 38 percent that would be grazed, about two- 

 thirds would be managed at Strategy B with 

 the remainder grazed at Strategy C and D 

 levels. 



Management tends to concentrate in Strategy 

 B for the moderately low and low-productivity 

 classes with the exception of the resource unit 

 in the moderately low-productivity class with 

 the seedling, sapling, and pole stand-size class. 

 Grazed acreage of the high and moderately high 

 productivity classes takes this pattern pri- 

 marily because of the limits on change from the 

 level of management in 1970. 



The management changes when uncon- 

 strained optimal management levels are con- 

 sidered. The analysis of this ecosystem has 

 fewer optimal cells than some other ecosystems 

 because maximized livestock management 

 ( Strategy E ) was eliminated from the available 

 choices. The optimal management is generally 



