| definition |
- The United States has about 770 million acres of rangelands. Private
individuals own more than half of the Nation's rangelands. The federal
government manages 43 percent of the rangelands. State and local governments
manage the remainder.
The Forest Service, an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture,
administers approximately 191 million acres of National Forest Systems lands.
About half of this acreage, 96 million acres, is rangelands.
Today, the Forest Service concentrates it efforts on managing the vegetation
resources across the range landscape to serve a multitude of resource needs.
Rangeland management specialists are working to provide such things as habitat
for a variety of plant and animal species, clean water, and sustainable grazing
and browsing. They inventory, classify, and monitor rangeland conditions to
maintain or improve rangeland health. When they identify unhealthy rangelands,
they strive to restore rangeland ecosystem functions. Forest Service rangeland
management includes a whole host of partners, public and private, working
together to make sure our rangelands are healthy and functioning properly.
Website: "http://www.fs.fed.us/rangelands/"
[Summary provided by the USDA.]
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