Range management: Principles and practices

This book, which is aimed at students, range managers and scientists, discusses the principles of range management with examples from the USA and other parts of the world. This 1st edition emphasizes range management practices orientated towards multiple use. Topics discussed include rangeland and man, the physical characteristics of rangelands, range management history, a description of rangeland types, range plant physiology, range ecology, range inventory and monitoring, stocking rate, selection of grazing methods, improving livestock distribution, animal nutrition, livestock production, wildlife management, management for multiple use, manipulation of range vegetation, range management in Developing Countries, and computer applications and the future.

Preface

The purpose of the fourth edition of this book is to introduce students to the science of range management coupling the latest concepts and technology with proven traditional approaches. We hope that our audience continues to include employed range managers on public and private land ranchers, wildlife biologists, soil scientists, and the growing segment of the public interested in natural resource management. We have tried to improve the text for those concerned with range management, not only in the United States but in other parts of the world as well.

Our approach has involved tempering fundamental topics such as range plant physiology, range plant ecology, stocking-rate considerations, and grazing system selection with the most recent research. Some traditional range management concepts have been altered since the third edition as the result of new findings. This is particularly true in the subject areas of grazing management, range ecology, and range plant ecology. We have placed greater emphasis on ecology and multiple use in this edition along with improving the quality of Tables and Figures.

Although approaches to range management change, the basic objectives of range management remain essentially the same as in the past. These are to provide society with meat, water, wildlife, and recreational opportunities on a sustained basis from lands unsuited for permanent cultivation. In recent years, the relative importance to society of these products has shifted on many rangelands in the United States. However, with modern range management practices, most rangelands can be made to yield near their potential of each product simultaneously. Although multiple-use has been practiced for over 30 years on federal rangelands in the United States, it is now bring more widely practiced on private rangelands as ranchers find the sale of recreational opportunities on their land to be increasingly profitable. We have tried to emphasize range management practices oriented toward multiple-use wherever possible.

Range management is distinguished from other land management disciplines in that it involves manipulation of grazing by large domestic or wild animals. Since control of grazing is the foundation of any range management program, this still receives primary emphasis in this fourth edition of our text. We have restricted our coverage of manipulation of vegetation by practices other than grazing to fundamental concepts since several other good texts are available that deal exclusively with this subject.