low shrubs such as cranberries, dwarf willows, bog 

 rosemary, and Labrador tea. In the Aleutian tundras, 

 the tall bluejoint reedgrass and low heath shrubs are 

 dominant. Shrub thickets are composed of dense to 

 open stands of alder, devilsclub, salmonberry, willow, 

 and blueberries. Vegetation of the muskeg-bog, with 

 its high water tables, is characterized by sphagnum 

 moss, sedges, rushes, lichens, and low shrubs. 



The Hawaiian rangelands, which total almost 1 

 million acres, are a mixture of trees including koa, 

 guava, and sandalwood; shrubs (cactus and mes- 

 quite), and grasses (tanglehead and hairgrasses). 



Productivity — Productivity of the rangelands in 

 the three lower Pacific Coast States ranges from 

 about 5,100 pounds per acre in the wet grasslands to 

 about 250 pounds in some of the communities of the 

 desert shrub ecosystem (table 2.6). The annual grass- 

 lands are surprisingly productive, averaging better 

 than 2,000 pounds per acre. On the better sites, the 

 annual grasslands can be expected to average 3,000 

 pounds or more. This type has consistently shown 

 marked and profitable response to fertilization. 



The Alaskan ecosystems have generally low pro- 

 ductivity levels. Only the shrub thickets and the Aleu- 

 tian moist tundra with the tall bluejoint reedgrass 

 produce over a ton of herbage and browse per acre on 

 their best sites. In Hawaii, the grass-shrub-barren 

 mosaic is the highest, averaging almost 4,200 pounds 

 per acre and capable of producing up to 9,000 pounds 

 on the best sites. 



Water Areas 



Water areas of the Pacific Coast total 18.1 million 

 acres, about 3 percent of this section's total area 

 (table 2.1). Alaska, with its many large inland lakes 

 and streams, has over 70 percent of the total water 

 area in the Pacific Coast States. Oregon, Washington, 

 and California have a number of large rivers includ- 

 ing the Columbia and Sacramento rivers and their 

 tributaries. These States also have many large lakes 

 — both artificial and natural — and many small lakes 

 and streams. The islands of Hawaii have only 19,000 

 acres of water area, less than 0.5 percent of their total 

 area. Washington, in addition to its inland waters, 

 has 1.5 million acres of coastal water area in the 

 Puget Sound and the Straits of Juan de Fuca. 



The rivers and streams of Alaska and the lower 

 Pacific Coast States are vital to the important salmon 

 industry of the Pacific Coast, and provide habitat for 

 other fishes, waterfowl, and other wildlife. Many of 

 these rivers are also used for water sources and power 

 generation. 



Other Uses and Resources 



In addition to the forest and range land resources 

 described above for each of the major sections of the 

 country, four other resources deserve discussion here: 

 minerals, urban forests, wetlands, and air. All are 

 relevant to an assessment of forest and range lands. 



Ownership — Rangelands in the three States of 

 California, Oregon, and Washington are about 

 equally split between the Federal Government and 

 non-Federal owners (table 2.3). In Washington, 

 which has the smallest area of rangelands of the three 

 States, over three-quarters is in non-Federal owner- 

 ship. In Oregon and California, on the other hand, 

 only 41 percent is in non-Federal ownership. Over 64 

 percent of the Federal rangeland in these three States 

 is administered by the Bureau of Land Management. 



Of the 231 million acres of rangeland in Alaska, 

 225 million acres, or 97 percent, is in Federal owner- 

 ship. The Bureau of Land Management administers 

 the great bulk of the Federal rangelands in the State, 

 196 million acres, or 87 percent. The Forest Service 

 administers only 8 million acres and the other Federal 

 agencies some 21 million acres. A large part of the 

 rangeland in Hawaii is in State ownership. These 

 lands are often leased to private ranchers for grazing 

 of domestic livestock. 



Minerals 



Mining of most minerals in the United States takes 

 place on forest and range lands. In part, this is 

 because forest and range lands are the most extensive 

 category of lands in the country, but these lands also 

 happen to coincide with major areas of mineraliza- 

 tion. For example, the coal mines of Appalachia, the 

 iron and copper mines of the Lake States, and the 

 lead mines of Missouri all fall in heavily forested 

 areas. Most of the oil and natural gas in Texas, 

 Wyoming, and New Mexico, the coal in Montana 

 and Wyoming, and the oil shale in Colorado under- 

 lies major rangeland zones. 



Although minerals are not renewable products of 

 forest and range lands, they are very important re- 

 sources; their production has major effects on surface 

 resources and is affected by the production and use of 

 those resources. The greatest impacts occur from sur- 

 face mining, but the surface effect of underground 



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