Abstract | The great rangeland in the western half of the United States covers a territory approximately 1,000 miles wide and 1,200 miles long within which some 728 million acres of mountains, foothills, plains, and semidesert are grazed at various seasons of the year by millions of cattle, horses, sheep, and goats, as well as big game and other wild animals. The range research problem is to determine how the continued productivity and use of this vast native forage resource can be maintained at the highest level in harmony with economic livestock production and the conservation of other resources on the range, such as timber and water for irrigation, and with the feed production of the associated lands in cultivation. This means working out the proper utilization and management of the rather sparse vegetation growing under usually low rainfall and easily damaged by too heavy grazing, especially during recurrent severe drought periods. |