TOPICS:
Understanding environmental problems; making effective use of technical information; applicable to land use and growth issues; written for the first party participant.
ABSTRACT:
U.S. Forest Service Grazing and Rangelands: A History is, as its title succinctly states, a history of the U.S. Forest Services' grazing and range-land management.
U.S. Forest Service Grazing and Rangelands: A History will be of interest to those who seek an historical perspective on the Forest Service. The author begins with a discussion of the open land of the Western frontier and the frontier herdsman. In this context he describes the formation of the Forest Service and the chaos and destruction which resulted from its free-range policies. Chapter two addresses pioneers in grazing regulation and the resultant granting of grazing permission. Additionally, the author discusses resource use and regulation under the Roosevelt administration.
Chapter three considers the tasks of management for the Forest Service. These include: the implementation of grazing fees, the classification of range, and the permit system. The chapter concludes with a consideration of the often competing interests of the large and small land holders. Chapter four addresses the era of scientific management and is nicely supported by a figure depicting plant succession and, by photos of range land and its users. Chapter five focuses on the state of war which existed on the range in the late nineteenth century and early twentieth centuries. Herein, the perennial issue of grazing fees is reëxamined and the impact of the Casement Report assessed.
Chapters six and seven discuss the management of the range lands in the 1930s and the new policies enacted during World War II, respectively. The photo supplements to the latter chapter are a nice addition. Chapter eight address continuing themes in range land management which were of concern through the 1950s. The final chapter addresses the challenges which continued through the 1960s, 70s, and 80s.
U.S. Forest Service Grazing and Rangelands: A History is a history of the Forest Services management of range lands which lacks the sort of vehement criticism which has been leveled at the Forest Service over much of the past three decades. The text is appended with a Forest Service Grazing Chronology which will help the reader to position policy changes in an historical context.
T. A. O'Lonergan