| Show MANAGEMENT OF ot GRAZING RANGES GANGES i Use Care and Forethought to Prevent Lands From Being f Seriously Injured TO T RECOGNIZE OVERGRAZING r J a r Use of Forage Crop Must Be Governed Gov by Finer Discrimination r 4 of of Plant Cover Four Cover Four Major Ma jor Stages Prepared by the United States Department Depart r ment of Agriculture x Tho The old say saying ng about a small amount of prevention being worth a great deal of or cure ure applies even to the mana mannge- mannge ement e ment of grazing lands It Is much better and easier ensler if care and forethought forethought forethought fore fore- thought are exercised to prevent lands from being overgrazed than to bring I them back Into good condition after overgrazing has been allowed How ITow to recognize overgrazing In the beginning and how to prevent it are brought are brought out In fn B Bulletin ll 7 Plant Succession Success on In Relation to Range flange Management by Arthur Simpson W. W plant ecologist of ofa I. I the forest service One of the most serious difficulties i f In fc preventing overgrazing In the past r has I S been the lack Inck of a means of sizing It In its early stages So long longas longE E a as at the cover er was more or less Intact o there was little Indication that the 2 J 0 range was being slowly but certainly depleted and the tIle depletion was not Jl noticed until the more palatable and Important forage species vere were seriously seriously seriously seri seri- red Enterprising stockmen and e concerned with the administration admin admin- of grazing have come to realize realIze realize real real- ize that the live stock Industry has hns now reached a point where the intensity Intensity Intensity sity of ot the use of the forage crop must be governed by a finer dl discrimination I tion of the density of the plant cover and md the the of the stock I Reveals Four Major Stages Q i A careful grouping of the vegetation L I ft r 1 f I K I i Overgrazed Cattle Range on Left up tip and down the scale of development Into divisions dl reveals four major stages These stages may be readily recognized by hy certain earmarks The highest and most roost stable type In tho locality studied is marked by the predominance predominance predominance pre pre- dominance of wheat grass In the vegetation vege vega tation Cation the second by porcupine grass gras and yellow brush the third by foxglove foxglove fox fox- glove sweet sage and yarrow an anthe the fourth by annual plants like low pen pen-Ine and weeds like Douglas knotweed knotweed knotweed knot- knot weed and tarweed Whether the range I Is being overgrazed o or not may be del de de- de- de l by noting what plants ez ara Increasing Increasing In creasing In In abundance Two Important Objects In any well planned method of grazing grazIng grazing graz graz- ing designed to handy handle lands as permanent permanent per per- manent grazing areas two objects must be kept in fn mind One is the cropping of the herbage at a n time inthe In Inthe Inthe the season when growth and reproduction tion Uon will be Interfered with as little as possible The other It lIS s the utilization of the forage crop when whoa It Is most needed and when the herbage berbage Is palatable pala pala- table and nutritious Grazing may cause either higher or lower stages stages' of vegetation to take possession of the range depending chiefly upon the closeness with which the herbage Is grazed annually and the time when it Is cropped If It the forage age Is grazed closely before seed maturity each year the general trend will be toward the lower stages If on the other hand the crop Is maintained In a high stage of vigor and protected from grazing until un til after seed maturity every third or or fourth year the higher types of vegetation vegetation vegetation vege vege- tation will become predominant and the carrying capacity of the range will increase The investigations which brought out the results given In this bulletin were conducted by the forest service in the vicinity of the Great Basin experiment ex ex- station located In that part of tIle the Wasatch mountains embraced by the MantI ManU National forest In central Utah |
