In addition to these five management levels, 

 another situation — exploitative grazing, i.e., grazing 

 with no concern for multiple use or the maintenance 

 of basic soil and water resources — is, unfortunately, 

 much too common. Though such grazing is practiced, 

 it is not desirable management because the sacrifice 

 of soil and water resources to obtain short-term mone- 

 tary gains is too detrimental to the Nation's welfare in 

 the long run. In addition to being used as a general 

 level of management, this kind of grazing also occurs 

 in local spots or areas on ranges that overall are being 

 managed under any of the other five management 

 levels. 



Production by management level. — To be truly 

 cost-efficient, higher management levels should be em- 

 ployed where productive potentials are the greatest, 

 and lower levels of management should be used on 

 ecosystems with lower potentials. At present, this is 

 only partly the case. For example, only about 40 per- 

 cent of the production from perennial grassland eco- 

 systems comes from lands managed in the two highest 

 management categories — intensive management and 

 maximization of livestock (table 5.8). In the annual 

 grasslands, a somewhat different situation exists in 

 that 52 percent of the grazing production comes from 

 extensive management — a relatively low manage- 

 ment level. Shrublands are managed less intensively 

 than the grasslands, with 36 percent of the output 

 coming from the two highest management levels. 

 Unfortunately, exploitative grazing occurs at far too 

 great an extent regardless of the productive potential 

 of the ecosystems. 



Large differences in the quality and quantity of 

 forage occur among the ecosystem groups. Grazing 

 potential varies accordingly. In 1976, the forest and 

 rangeland ecosystems produced 212 million animal 

 unit months (AUM's) of grazing (table 5.8). The 

 grassland ecosystems accounted for 64 percent of the 

 total AUM's produced. Shrublands contributed 25 

 percent, and despite their large area, the eastern 

 forests made up only 8 percent, and the western 

 forests only 2 percent of the total. Although the west- 

 ern forests provide only a small proportion of the 

 total grazing, they are producing over 5 million 

 AUM's and their importance as a resource should not 

 be discounted. 



About three-fourths of all the AUM's come from 

 five range ecosystems and each of them produced 

 more than 10 million AUM's of grazing in 1976. The 

 plains grassland, with 54.3 milhon AUM's, produced 

 the most, followed by the prairie (45.4 million), sage- 

 brush (24.6 million), mountain grassland (16.6 mil- 

 lion), and Texas savanna (16.5 million). All of these 

 are relatively high producing ecosystems (table 2.6) 



and all have substantial areas that could be improved 

 in condition (table 5.2); therefore, all could be 

 expected to produce substantially more AUM's of 

 grazing if management levels were intensified and 

 range conditions improved, and if economic and 

 ownership circumstances permitted it. 



Stewardship management. — Description of man- 

 agement strategies would be seriously incomplete 

 without mention of the range stewardship concept. 

 Stewardship is simply exercising sufficient care of the 

 land so that it is passed on to succeeding generations 

 in as good or better condition as it was received. Thus 

 stewardship assures future availability of a produc- 

 tive range resource. Future generations will then have 

 options as to the uses to be made of the range, 

 whether it be used for grazing, wildlife habitat, water, 

 air, open space, or recreation. The stewardship con- 

 cept is essential to ensure progress in restoring and 

 maintaining the productivity of rangelands. While 

 meat production is a primary factor in the demand 

 for range, as will later be discussed, stewardship of 

 soil and vegetation resources is a matter of vital pub- 

 lic interest, and is an important element in discussions 

 about supplying future demands for meat. 



One index of the effectiveness of land stewardship 

 is the rate of soil loss from the Nation's lands. Pimen- 

 tel, et aP'' estimated that the United States has lost 

 one-third of its original topsoil in only 200 years, and 

 that the rate of loss on agricultural lands is increasing 

 rather than decreasing. More recent estimates^^ indi- 

 cate that about 77 percent of the agricultural lands in 

 now Federal ownership have soil losses due to sheet 

 and rill erosion of less than 5 tons per acre per year, a 

 loss generally considered as acceptable on average 

 croplands. These estimates also indicate that over 80 

 percent of the non-Federal rangelands and forests 

 have soil losses averaging less than 2 tons per acre per 

 year. No comparable estimates are available for Fed- 

 eral forests and rangelands, but preliminary data col- 

 lected for this assessment suggest that the bulk of the 

 Federal forests and rangelands have erosion rates 

 that are no higher than those for non-Federal lands. 



Factors Affecting Demand 

 for Range Grazing 



The demand for range grazing is derived from con- 

 sumers' demands for livestock products. These live- 

 stock products are meat, hides, wool, tallow, insulin. 



2'' Pimentel, D.; E. Terhune; R. Dyson-Hudson; S. Rochereau; 

 R. Samis; E. Smith; D. Denman; D. Reifschneider; and M. Shep- 

 ard. Land degradation: Effect on food and energy resources. 

 Science 194: 149. 1976. 



2' U.S. Department of Agriculture. Soil and Water Resources 

 Conservation Act; Appraisal 1980, review draft, part 1. 1979. 



171 



