Native Vegetation as a Criterion for Determining Correct Range Management and Run-off Characteristics of Grazing Lands

Few range-management programs can be fully effective unless based on a thorough knowledge of the vegetation of the range unit under consideration. This knowledge includes much more than present grazing capacities; it is intrinsically a knowledge of present vegetation considered in terms of the most desirable vegetation that might grow on the range unit involved. It is also a knowledge of the specific land-use practices that have resulted in the present vegetation, and of remedial measures that will restore deteriorated areas. It is, in short, adequate knowledge to recognize range condition and to differentiate between top-condition and deteriorated ranges, to classify different degrees of deterioration, and to prescribe corrective measures.