native range in need of reseeding consists of relatively small ''sore 

 spots" with only occasional extensive areas needing treatment. 



Currently the big job in the State is to re-establish good forage plants 

 on formerly plowed range land mainly outside the national forests. Already 

 approximately lg- million acres have been successfully seeded, but the 

 high grain prices of recent years have served to slow the program and to 

 keep considerable submarginal land in crops. With more normal conditions 

 much of this will be dropped from cultivation and, together with that 

 already abandoned, will constitute a 2 to 3 million-acre reseeding job. 

 As will be shown later in this paper, it is very important that land being 

 dropped from cultivation should be seeded promptly in the fail after the 

 last crop is harvested. 



Reseeding is not a substitute for good range management, but a part of it. 

 In many cases, as where depletion has been caused by overgrazing or poor 

 distribution of livestock, reseeding will do little good until the basic 

 trouble is corrected. Some have made the mistake of turning to reseeding 

 when reduced stocking, additional water developments, fences, better salting 

 practices, etc., were needed first. Practices, which promote more even 

 distribution and proper season and degree of use, will frequently restore 

 run-down ranges without reseeding. 



II. GENZRaL GUIDES FOR RaNGE RESEEDING 



General agronomic principles are the same for seeding grasses on the range 

 as for any other seeding operation. Details differ largely because of the 

 need for keeping costs in proper relation to the low value and producti- 

 vity of the land, and because of the more varied and difficult operating 

 conditions on the range than on cultivated lands. 



variability of conditions on tee range c^lls for preliminary analysis 

 Ajjg ?l-..:t:g . 



Even within the limited scope of this guide it is necessary to consider 

 an extremely wide variety of conditions that affect plant growth and seeding 

 methods. For example, areas in need of reseeding range in altitude from 

 around 2,000 feet in some of the western valleys to 9,000 or 10,000 feet 

 on some of the mountain summer ranges. Precipitation varies from 10 to 

 14 inches per year in the valleys and on the low benches, to 16 or 20 

 inches in the foothills and lower mountains, and up to 50 or 60 inches in 

 some of the high mountain areas. Soil may be deep and fertile or shallow 

 and rocky. Slopes may be exposed in any direction and may vary from nearly 

 level to precipitous. An area in need of treatment may be right in the 

 back yard, or it may be in a high mountain park accessible only on foot or 

 horseback. It may be almost bare of vegetation, or it may be covered by 

 a dense stand of cheatgrass ( Bromus tectorum ) or sagebrush (A rtemisia 

 tridentata ) . 



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