During the past decade much attention has been attracted to the great range lands of the West. The inherently low productivity of these arid lands coupled with abnormal drought and constantly heavy use by livestock because of lack of grazing control, have caused these lands to become greatly depleated over most of the West. That the vegetation on most range land in the intermountain states is depleted appreciably is evident to the careful observer. Undoubtedly the vegetation of much of the range has decreased in quantity, but more serious in many cases is the decrease in quality. Valuable forage species have been replaced by less valuable or even worthless ones. This situation has been recognized by students of range ecology, and, therefore, management plans have been formulated to preserve or improve the forage cover. These plans have undergone changes and are still being modified as basic facts concerning the growth habits of range plants are brought to light. Grazing plans in the past were, of necessity, based upon superficial study and general impressions; plans of the future will be based upon scientific facts supplemented by experience. The studies herein reported were made during the summer of 1938 in southern Cache Valley, Utah. The range under observation is roughly comparable to the northern intermountain grasslands. The observed range occupies the benches and foothills above the more moist valley floor.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UTAHS/oai:digitalcommons.usu.edu:etd-2917 |
| Date | 01 May 1939 |
| Creators | Hanson, Wallace R. |
| Publisher | DigitalCommons@USU |
| Source Sets | Utah State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | All Graduate Theses and Dissertations |
Page generated in 0.0022 seconds