32 BULLETIN 1423, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
In some cases, where such a move ma} T not be feasible at this time 
in full justice to all concerned, a cooperative herd by white and 
Eskimo owners must continue. But the attempted splitting up of a 
natural grazing unit, by dividing the herd and allowing the two 
or more parts to remain on the same unit, is impracticable. 
With an allotment system in operation, definite assignment of 
range among owners may be made and a protective management 
adopted for each grazing unit. Such management would involve 
stocking the range on the basis of actual carrying capacity and 
proper control and distribution of stock in order to insure a uniform 
utilization based on the forage requirement. Careful herding, con- 
struction of range improvements, and eventually the adoption of 
range salting are important aids to proper control. 
SUMMER RANGE MANAGEMENT 
Protective management on summer ranges is a comparatively 
simple problem, and a ready solution is to be found since it involves 
a known quantity, namely, herbaceous and shrub vegetation, as 
grasses, sedges, herbs, and browse. Valuable information that ap- 
plies directly is available in the publications on forage and range 
studies that have been conducted for many years on the grazing 
areas of the western United States. The principles determined by 
these studies apply to Alaska as well and may be followed in work- 
ing out the management scheme. Proper seasonal grazing, deferred 
and rotation grazing, open grazing, and proper distribution of stock 
over the range must all be put into practice. 
WINTER RANGE MANAGEMENT 
The problem on winter range is more difficult. From the nature 
of the lichen forage it is evident that the treatment in range man- 
agement will have to be much different from that applicable to 
such rapid-growing forage crops as grasses, sedges, herbs, and 
browse. Although one or two croppings of herbs and grasses may 
be safely permitted each season under a rotation grazing scheme of 
three years, without seriously injuring the growth or lowering a 
continued maximum forage yield, this could not be permitted with 
the slow-growing lichen vegetation. Recovery from cropping in 
this case requires not one season or part of a season, but several 
years. Instead of a three-year deferred and rotation grazing 
scheme, a more extended system will have to be worked out and 
applied. 
Management of the winter reindeer ranges calls for a deferred 
and rotation scheme of grazing, but to what degree each area should 
be grazed before deferring is still uncertain. Observations suggest 
that probably one of two things must be done: (1) Either close 
utilization must be followed or (2) there must be a very light crop- 
ping. Close utilization to remove all cover down to the frozen 
ground will get the greatest value out of each crop and will open 
up the cover for readier reproduction. It will also be the easier 
method for the grazier. 
Light cropping, on the other hand, would require greater move- 
ment of the herd, constant changing from one area to another, and 
