Read an Excerpt

The purpose of the fifth 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 lands, 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, rangeland stocking-rate considerations, and grazing system selection with the most recent research. Some traditional range management concepts have been altered since the fourth edition as the result of new findings. This is particularly true in the areas of grazing management, range ecology, and range plant ecology. We have again 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 hasbeen practiced for over 30 years on federal rangelands in the United States, it is now being 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 fifth edition of our text. We have restricted our coverage of vegetation manipulation by practices other than grazing to fundamental concepts, since several other good texts are available that deal exclusively with this subject.

We received both encouragement and helpful criticism from many of our colleagues. Those who provided valuable suggestions on our manuscript include Dr. Billie E. Dahl, Dr. Richard M. Hansen, Dr. Kris Havstad, Dr. Don D. Dwyer, Dr. David L. Scarnecchia, Dr. Sam L. Beasom, Dr. Jack L. Butler, and Dr. Randy Rosiere. We also gratefully acknowledge the valuable input of: Donald J. Bedunah, University of Montana; Lee E. Eddleman, Oregon State University, and Thomas M. Welch, Montana State University, who served as reviewers in the preparation of the fourth edition. In addition, we gratefully acknowledge the reviewers of this fifth edition: Patricia Dysart, Oregon State University; Susan Edinger Marshall, Humboldt State University, California; and Brian Oswald, Stephen E Austin University, Texas.

JERRY L. HOLECHEK
REX D. PIEPER
CARLTON H. HERBEL