Figure 2.3 



Rangeland as a Percentage of Total Land Area 



percent of the western forest lands and 61 percent of 

 the western rangelands are in Federal ownership 

 (table 2.3). These proportions, too, will change some- 

 what as the selections in Alaska are made and title is 

 transferred to the State and to Native groups. 



Productivity 



Productivity is a measure of the ability of land to 

 produce timber, forage, wildlife, or other biological 

 outputs. There is no single measure that adequately 

 describes the productivity of forest and range lands 

 for all of the products or outputs that can be obtained 

 from them. Measures such as cubic feet or board feet 

 of timber or pounds of forage produced per acre 

 annually are often used as estimates of productivity. 

 Although measures of productivity for other uses, 

 such as wildlife or recreation, are not well developed, 

 biological productivity as measured for timber and 

 forage is often useful in helping to determine capacity 

 for other uses. 



A number of factors determine productivity for 

 timber and forage. Chief among them are soil, cli- 

 mate, and topography. Thus, lands with arid cli- 

 mates, at high elevations or in northern latitudes, 

 tend to have lower productivity for timber and forage 

 than lands more favorably situated. However, an 

 unfavorable situation for the production of timber or 

 forage may in some cases be taken as an indicator 

 of high productivity for some kinds of outdoor 

 recreation. 



The inherent productivity of forest and range lands 

 can in many cases be altered by investments in inten- 

 sive management. The productivity levels discussed in 

 this chapter are the maximum potentials for forest 

 and range ecosystems in the absence of such intensi- 

 fied management. Natural potentials have been used 

 because they are available for most areas, and because 

 they provide a uniform means of describing the rela- 

 tive productivity of the Nation's forests and range- 

 lands. 



16 



