BY LYLE F. WATTS, Chief, United States Forest Service
There are vast areas of the world's surface, often physically associated with forest lands, which are neither forest lands proper, nor agricultural lands, nor improved pasture lands. These areas are covered with native vegetation whose conservation is of primary importance for soil protection and water control; they are often used extensively for grazing both by wild life and by domestic herds. The wise utilization of these lands - commonly called "range lands" in the United States - is a complement to, and in many cases, a condition of, sound forest utilization. The term "range lands" is not, however, readily applicable to similar conditions in other countries. It has been suggested that "wild lands" might correspond in non-American parlance to what the author has in mind. While in many countries such lands are too often subject to misuse, the United States Forest Service controls an important part of their "range lands" as federal property. In the following article, the Chief of the U.S. Forest Service show the importance of this control.
In the development of the FAO program, emphasis has been placed on the problems of production on cultivated croplands, on improved permanent pastures, and on commercial forest lands. The range lands, the wild grasslands, the native forage-producing lands which constitute a large part of the earth's surface have so far-been given little attention. It is the purpose of this paper to call attention to the need for an active program for these range lands. Some of our experiences in the United States of America can be cited to indicate both the need and the possibilities of such a program.
The range lands of the world occupy more than half of the earth's entire land surface. They include grasslands on all continents that are too dry, too rough, or too rocky to be used to produce cultivated crops. They include open forests and savannas where much grazable vegetation occurs under the scattered tree growth. They include desert shrub types, mountain meadows, and alpine grasslands near or above the timber line. They include the tundras of the far north.
Millions of people, nomadic herdsmen and others, gain a livelihood from these lands. Many more millions derive all or part of their living from processing, transporting, or selling the meat, wool, hides, milk, and other animal products produced on the wildland ranges. Just how much of the world's meat supply comes from natural range lands is not known, but it must be a high proportion. In the United States of America approximately half the beef cattle and 70 percent of the sheep get a considerable part of their feed requirements from native ranges. Livestock production from the range lands is the principal support of many communities in the western United States; and here and in many other parts of the world natural ranges help to meet the forage needs of farm operations, supplementing the cultivated or improved tame pasture lands.
Ever since the days of the United Nations Interim Commission for Food and Agriculture, when the groundwork was laid for a world food and agriculture organization, I have been concerned that so little attention was given to the problems of the range lands Any program for expanding the world's production of food and fiber, and for improving the standard of living of the world's peoples, must look to the conservation and wise use of these lands. The range lands must be reckoned with because they represent a major portion of the earth's land surface, and because vast numbers of people are dependent upon these lands for their subsistence. Many of the world's range lands have been long and sorely abused and neglected, but because of their tremendous extent they still support vast numbers of animals yielding vast amounts of animal products. In addition, many of the world's ranges have potentialities for far greater production, and thus for much greater contributions to human welfare.
Range lands often support agricultural economies that differ materially from those based on croplands. It is reported that more than half of the range land of the world is grazed by nomadic herding; that is the way of life of many tribal people of Africa, inner Asia and the Asiatic tundra. In other areas, such as the western United States, the steppe lands of South Africa, the dry interior grasslands and savannas of South America, and in Australia and New Zealand, livestock ranching is practiced. This is a commercial form of livestock grazing, based on use of the native forage in large privately owned ranch units or on publicly owned range lands in the vicinity of a home ranch.
Other systems of range land use are practiced in the Mediterranean region, parts of the Americas, and elsewhere. In densely populated areas where there are many subsistence farmsteads, the livestock are commonly allowed to graze on native forage-producing lands adjacent to the farmsteads. Only under such intensive livestock farming systems as those practiced in most of western Europe, the American cornbelt and cultivated parts of Argentina is the use of native forage insignificant. In these areas, livestock growers obtain their feed and forage from grains, hay, and intensively managed pastures. There is little native range forage.
Range lands have served man since before the-dawn of recorded history. One of prehistoric man's earliest and greatest steps toward civilization was undoubtedly when he came out of the trees and caves and began to domesticate and herd grazing animals. It is said that Neolithic man brought sheep, goats, and cattle into Western Europe about 10,000 B.C. Livestock production from native forage helped to support the ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, and Rome. Over-grazing of the range probably was one of the causes contributing to their decline.
Invasion of some 60 million acres of grassland ranges in the southwestern United States by mesquite has reduced grazing capacity, increased erosion and increased costs of handling livestock, as shown in these pictures.
An Arizona range area photographed in 1903.
An Arizona range area photographed in 1941.
A depleted and actively eroding range area, once a mountain meadow (Utah, U.S.A.).
It has practically no grazing value in this condition and the soil eroded from it may damage irrigated farming areas in the valleys below. (These photograph appear through the courtesy of the U.S. Forest Service).
For the most part, the history of range use has been one of resource depletion. Centuries of heavy grazing have killed off the vegetation over extensive areas, laying bare the soil surface to wind and water erosion that has carried away the fertility of the land. The capacity of the land to produce usable vegetation has been reduced or destroyed.
As a result of continued heavy grazing, too, the capacity of the soil to absorb precipitation has been lowered in many areas. A greater proportion of the rainfall runs off. Lack of protective soil cover causes excessive evaporation of the water that does get into the soil. This has caused desert conditions in many areas that otherwise would be mesophytic, or at least only semi-arid. It has caused sparse vegetation where it could be produced in abundance. It has caused human poverty where higher living standards could have been possible.
In other situations, constant heavy grazing of the better forage-producing plants has caused these to give way to unpalatable or grazing-resistant plants. The worthless plants have grown to dominate the areas, using up available moisture and nutrients in the soil. As a result, grazing capacities have been reduced to perhaps a tenth or a twentieth of what they could be. This has happened in parts of the range lands of the western United States, where low-valued big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata Nutt.) and other worthless plants have replaced valuable grasses and fortes. By reducing the sagebrush and re-establishing grasses, range managers have restored some of these sagebrush lands to high productivity. But vast areas of range land here and in many other parts of the world are now dominated by vegetation that is of little value to; the peoples dependent upon these lands for their livelihood.
Many areas where irrigation is practiced, or has been practiced in the past, depend upon water from range lands or upon water that drains through range areas. Over-grazing in many cases has resulted in increased floods and sedimentation that curtail the amount of usable irrigation water, change its seasonal distribution, or fill irrigation reservoirs and ditches with erosion debris. Such effects of excessive grazing on watershed lands has caused the abandonment of some of the elaborate irrigation systems of the past in various parts of the world, and the consequent decline of local economies based on irrigation agriculture. Over-grazing is threatening irrigation works in many places today.
Range deterioration is a creeping paralysis. The progression of the sickness' is not noticeable from day to day. The changes that result in lowered production from the range land usually occur very slowly; they may continue over many years or decades. The landowner or herdsman, trying to make a living from the range, may not recognize that the land is getting less productive; if he does, he may not know the reason for it. As deterioration advances, however, it also becomes more rapid. As conditions become progressively worse, the site gets progressively drier and less productive. Drought accentuates the rate of deterioration.
In the United States of America, the-settlement of the western range country and the expansion of the range livestock industry was relatively rapid Deterioration of some of the range lands has been correspondingly rapid. Perhaps for the first time, therefore it has been possible to observe the causes end effects of range deterioration within the lifetime of a singleman.
Range lands can and should be managed for permanent productivity. Desirable objectives of range management would be:
1. to produce the maximum forage possible from range land on a continuing basis;2. to increase the forage production of range lands that are producing less than their potential;
3. to make the most efficient use of the forage for the production of livestock and livestock products, or wild life, or both;
4. concurrently, to safeguard or improve the watershed value of range lands for the mitigation of destructive or wasteful flood run-off and erosion and for production of maximum yields of usable water; in many areas watershed considerations may be the most important of all.
Ranges are the habitat of much of the world's wildlife resources. For some of the more primitive tribes in various parts of the world, the wild game of the range is still the principal basis of subsistence. Big game hunting supports guide and outfitting services, helps to increase tourist and travel business, and thus contributes to the economy of a number of regions. In such places, the maintenance of abundant populations of big game may be a principal objective. As with domestic livestock, the key to thriving big-game populations is abundant forage of suitable types. Wildlife management is primarily habitat; management.
Within recent years, range management has been developed as a science, with scientific principles evolved for the handling of range land and the management of livestock grazing on native forage. Research on range management problems has been under way in several countries, such as the United States of America, Australia, South Africa, India, and Pakistan.
In the United States, the application of scientific management to range lands has developed during the last fifty years This came about partly as a result of experience gained by livestock owners and by public land management agencies in the use of range lands. A major contributing factor has been the range research program of a number of state agricultural experiment stations and the U.S. Forest Service. Range management studies in the western United States began on a limited scale about 1900. During recent years the research work has been much expanded and has been extended to many range types in the western and southern parts of the United States. The results of this research have been made available for use both on publicly owned range lands administered by the Forest Service and other governmental agencies and on range lands in private ownership. Educational activities of a number of federal and state agencies are helping to get research results into wider practical application on private lands.
Improved Use of Forage Plants
As a result of research and experience, range managers in the United States are learning to manage the range in such a way that the better forage species increase and remain productive. They are learning techniques for rehabilitating depleted range land by reseeding, and for reducing dense stands of shrubs and other noxious plants having little or no forage value and replacing them with valuable forage plants.
To encourage the better forage species, the range manager must consider both the needs of the desired forage plants' and of the livestock. He must provide for keeping the desirable plants productive by regulating the grazing to leave sufficient herbage to nourish the plants, and by lessening or discontinuing grazing during critical periods in the growth cycle of the plants, at least on a part of each range unit each year. To gain efficient use of the forage, proper distribution of the livestock on the range must be obtained, and only the class of livestock best suited to the particular type of forage and to the topography should be grazed.
Numerous range management practices developed through range research by the U.S. Forest Service are now applied range units in the western United States. On these well-managed ranges, the dates for turning livestock on to a range and for taking them off are set to harmonize both with the readiness of the range for grazing and with the nutritional requirements of the livestock. Fairly good bases for determining the approximate grazing capacities of various range types have been worked out. Deferred and rotation grazing is an improved practice which permits proper use of the forage on the range as a whole but delays grazing until after seed dissemination or forage maturity on a different portion of the range each year. Improved methods for grazing sheep and goats have been developed, such as open and quiet herding and bedding down the animals in a new place every night to avoid damage through trampling and localized overgrazing. Better distribution of cattle is being obtained through well-placed watering facilities and better salting methods, thus bringing about a more even and more effective use of the available range forage. Research has developed management practices that harmonize grazing with forest regeneration in open pine types in the western states. It has developed methods of management that minimize losses from poisonous plants, and measures for the eradication or control of many noxious plants. Economical procedures have been developed to reduce the stand of some of the low-value shrubs so that grasses can make greater growth.
By such management practices it is hoped that the productivity of much run-down range land in the western United States will be restored, and that high productivity, once achieved, can be permanently maintained.
The U.S. Forest Service has also done much research on range reseeding as a means of restoring depleted range lands to the productivity of which they are capable, About 80 million acres (32,376,000 ha.) of range land in the western United States are so badly deteriorated that natural revegetation within a reasonable time appears improbable. Intensive studies and experiments have been made to determine the adaptability of various species and strains of forage plants for many of the various range situations. Native plants, species introduced from other lands where they grow naturally under more or less similar ecological conditions, and improved strains of both native and introduced species have been tested Experiments have been conducted to determine how much seed to plant of each adapted species, the depth of planting required to attain satisfactory establishment, and the best season for planting. Special machines have been devised for use in planting and to reduce competing vegetation. These studies and experiments have developed efficient and economical procedures for the successful establishment of adapted species on a number of different range types.
Importance of Re-seeding
As a result of these studies and experiments, it is now possible at reasonable cost to reseed badly depleted areas in a number of range types and make them productive in from one to three years, where it would require half a century or more for them to recover naturally. More than 8 million acres (3,237,600 ha.) of private and public range land in the western United States has already been seeded successfully. The seedings have increased forage production 5 to 10 times - in some cases, 15 to 20 times.
On the forest ranges of the southern United States, research on reseeding techniques is looking to the establishment of plants that will extend the season of palatable and nutritious; range forage, thereby reducing the necessity for feeding costly supplements now essential for sustained livestock production in this region.
The potentialities of scientific range management in increasing and stabilizing livestock production are great. As an example of what can be accomplished in a practical way, the Jornada Experimental Range in the southwestern United States of America might be cited. This experimental range, maintained by the U.S. Forest Service, is located in the subtropical desert region of southern New Mexico. It is 193,000 acres (78,107.1 ha.) in extent. It receives an average annual precipitation of about 9 inches (228.6 mm.). Drought years are frequent; in some years less than 4 inches (101.6 mm.) precipitation occurs. Three to four years of every decade are drought years.
In this area, the production of beef per cow has been practically doubled in the past 30 years, giving greater total yields of beef from the same area. This was accomplished by stocking the range so that sufficient herbage would be left after grazing to maintain plant vigor, by organizing the seasonal movement of cattle so as to use each vegetation type in its proper season, and by adjusting the ratio of breeding cows in the herd Making adequate range forage available to each animal resulted in greater weight increases per animal and lowered death losses. The number of calves per 100 cows increased from 65 to 85. Also fluctuation in forage production from year to year has been reduced, lessening the adverse effects of drought.
Generally, management of range lands for an abundant and continuous production of forage will bring about good watershed conditions as well. Where critical watershed problems exist, special treatments of the range may be necessary. It is often possible to improve watershed conditions by modification of grazing use. In the National Forests of the western United States, watershed condition as well as forage has become a criterion for setting grazing schedules and allotments. Severely damaged watersheds may be rehabilitated by revegetation and upstream engineering work such as contour trenching, construction of small dams to cheek gully erosion, etc. Research in forest influences is gradually developing more knowledge of how to manage various forest and range types and how best to conserve water, reduce wastage, and produce the highest usable water yield.
I cite these examples of the possibilities of scientific range management in the United States only because I have first-hand knowledge of them. Undoubtedly, examples of equally successful range improvement or of long periods of wise range use can be found in many other countries.
But the feet remains, as we all know well, that vast areas of range land throughout the world are badly deteriorated. Vast areas are producing only a fraction of the meat, wool, and other products they could produce. Range deterioration is aggravating water problems in many areas, contributing to floods, erosion, and sedimentation on the one hand, and to scarcities of usable water on the other. My own country is no exception.
Conservation and wise use of the world's range lands should certainly have a place in a world food and agriculture program. I hope this forgotten half of the earth's surface will be given more adequate attention. Specifically, I wish to propose the formation of a Range Management Branch as a new major subdivision of the Forestry Division of FAO. This Range Management Branch would be concerned with the compilation of information on the extent, character, condition, and use of the world's range lands; with encouragement of more research and exchange of technical information on range management problems by the member countries of FAO; and with co-ordinating, stimulating and guiding the work of public and private institutions throughout the world toward the rehabilitation and efficient and productive use of range lands. It would seek to do for the range lands what the forestry and crop branches of FAO seek to do for other portions of the earth's surface.
There are a number of reasons for suggesting that the Range Management Branch be set up in the Forestry Division of FAO. The principles of range management differ greatly from those of management of croplands or intensively handled pastures where returns per acre are relatively high. Range management, like forestry, looks to the conservation of renewable natural resources. It is closely related to forestry because it is a form of land management that involves the growth and harvest of native plants. A large part-of the range lands also are forests where the forage is obtained from the shrub and herbaceous vegetation that grows in the understory. Production both of wood and of forage may be obtained through correlation of uses of the land.
Range management problems should be handled by specialists in range management - by men who are trained in the management and use of natural herbaceous and shrub vegetation where many species occur in complex association. Many, perhaps most, of the range management specialists today are men who have a combined forestry and ecology background. Where courses in range management are given in the universities they are generally given in connection with the forestry curricula.
Foresters in the United States and in several other countries have led the way in working for more efficient use of range lands. Working with other ecologists and co-ordinating their efforts with agronomists and animal husbandmen, foresters evolved the science of range management, conservation, and improvement. I should like to see foresters take the lead in a program for range conservation and improvement throughout the world.
The ultimate objective of range management, as of forestry or crop agriculture, is of course human welfare. Conditions in thousands of communities and even great metropolitian centers reflect adversity or prosperity on the range. All too frequently; improper management or abuse of the range has resulted in reduced livestock production; in far-reaching damage from floods, erosion, and siltation, in impoverishment of peoples and weakening of nations. Production from the range land can be increased, the lot of peoples dependent upon the range resources can be improved, and the economy of communities and nations strengthened and stabilized when improved range management is applied. It is my hope that the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations will take a leading part in the development of a program to make that half of the world's surface that is range land contribute its share fully and continuously to the welfare of the world's peoples.
