■ Plant 

 Studies 



ECOLOGICAL 

 ENDEAVORS 



Late in the 1960's countless Americans 

 began to be aware of a complex of problems 

 loosely labeled "environment." Some could be 

 specifically classed as "pollution," but many 

 others eluded classification. For the first time, 

 many heard the word "ecology," and soon, 

 without knowing precisely what the term 

 meant, called themselves "ecologists" — and 

 multiplied. Many of these new ecologists of the 

 60's and 70's are surprised to learn that Forest 

 Service scientists, including ecologists, have 

 been studying plants and animals in relation to 

 their environment ever since the Utah Experi- 

 ment Station was established in 1912. Indeed, 

 the problem of destructive summertime floods 

 from the high Wasatch Plateau was basically an 

 ecological problem related to depletion of veg- 

 etation by grazing animals. This in turn posed 

 the necessity for learning much about range 

 vegetation and its interrelations with animals, 

 soil, climate, and other environmental charac- 

 teristics. This chapter briefly describes some of 

 these projects and evaluates their results. 



In applying the principle of plant succession 

 to range management, Sampson noted two 

 objectives to be kept in mind; namely, that 

 herbage should be cropped at a time in its 

 growing season when growth and reproduction 

 would sustain minimum injury, and that the 

 forage crop should be used when it was most 

 needed and when it was palatable and nutri- 

 tious (Sampson 1919b). He opined that plants 

 could be grazed closely early in the season once 

 in 3 or 4 years without danger and advocated 

 the deferred-and-rotation grazing system which 

 provided for this. Judicious grazing, in his 

 opinion, disturbed vegetation cover only 

 slightly. 



Sampson's knowledge of range plants and 

 their characteristics was already well developed 

 when he arrived in Utah. He used knowledge 

 gained in previous experience, notably in 

 Oregon, in studying the complex range prob- 

 lems on the Wasatch Plateau. The extent and 

 depth of this professional background are 

 shown well in his Department of Agriculture 

 Bulletin No. 4, "The Reseeding of Depleted 

 Grazing Lands to Cultivated Forage Plants," 



26 



