Table 5.2 — Condition of rangeland ecosystems in ttie United States, 1976^ 



(Thousand acres) 



Ecosystem 



Total 



Good 



Fair 



Poor 



Very Poor 



Contiguous States: 













Grasslands 













Mountain grasslands 



26,871 



4,705 



9,725 



8,392 



4,049 



Mountain meadows 



3,284 



1,063 



1,275 



692 



253 



Plains grasslands 



175,239 



25,809 



59,874 



69,377 



20.178 



Prairie 



41,186 



5,740 



14,098 



15,695 



5,654 



Desert grasslands 



24,744 



2,086 



6,109 



12,483 



4,066 



Wet grasslands 



4,411 



748 



1,219 



911 



1,533 



Annual grasslands 



10,153 



1,336 



511 



3,731 



4,576 



Alpine 



6,775 



2,897 



1,835 



1,948 



95 



Total 



292,663 



44,384 



94,646 



113,229 



40,403 



Shrublands: 













Sagebrush 



129,872 



16,012 



46,794 



45,470 



21,495 



Desert shrub 



81,171 



14,130 



29,581 



25,547 



11,913 



Shinnery 



4,726 



780 



1,310 



1,915 



723 



Texas savanna 



28,429 



4,666 



6,689 



13,037 



4,037 



Southwestern shrubsteppe 



43,213 



4,535 



6,398 



17,923 



14,358 



Chapparal-mountain shrub^ 



15,477 



1,829 



3,711 



5,870 



4,063 



Pinyon-juniper^ 



47.305 



4,285 



13,509 



21,012 



8,498 



Desert 



7,490 



5,739 



865 



486 



400 



Total 



357,683 



51,976 



108,857 



131,360 



65.488 



Total, Contiguous States 



650,346 



96,361 



203,503 



244,588 



105,891 



Alaska:^ 













Muskeg-bog 



14,383 



14,383 















Shrub thickets 



17,762 



14,853 



2,023 



886 







Moist tundra 



66,576 



40,344 



22,902 



3,330 







Wet tundra 



26,256 



26,256 















Alpine tundra 



103,114 



85,069 



18,045 











Aleutian moist tundra 



1,215 



850 



365 











Aleutian alpine 



2,165 



1,517 



541 



107 







Total 



231,471 



183,272 



43,876 



4,323 







Hawaii: 













Forest-shrub-grass mosaic 



493 



72 



72 



95 



254 



Koa-mamani-parkland 



250 



117 



58 



73 



2 



Grass-shrub-barren mosaic 



225 



154 



36 



30 



5 



Total 



968 



343 



166 



198 



261 



Total, United States 



882,784 



279,975 



247,545 



249,109 



106,152 



'For definition of condition class, see text. 



^Considered as other forest In the Forest and Range Land chapter. 



Note: Totals may not add due to rounding. 



is now, and has been for many decades, confined pri- 

 marily to lands cleared of forests and then seeded to 

 domesticated grasses and forbs. These cleared lands 

 are considered as improved pastures and are not 

 included in the Nation's range base. 



Only a small portion of Alaska is currently grazed 

 by livestock. There are cattle and sheep on some of 

 the Aleutian Islands; cattle on Kodiak Island; rein- 

 deer on Umnak, Atka, and Nunivak Island, and on 

 the Seward Peninsula; and musk ox on Nunivak 

 Island. In the past, cattle grazed small isolated areas 



in the mountains and the reindeer herds roamed over 

 most of the North Slope and western tundra areas. 

 Their numbers and area grazed have declined steadily 

 in recent decades. 



While livestock grazing occurs on some large 

 ranches using range in Hawaii, there is little range 

 grazing in the remaining Pacific Islands, Puerto Rico, 

 and the Virgin Islands. Grazing in these islands is 

 important locally, but it represents a very tiny frac- 

 tion of the Nation's grazing use. 



162 



