rangelands & forests

Land Management

The main categories of rural land are

Farmland

Rangeland

Forest land - national and state parks

Wilderness

We have sometimes managed these lands sustainably so that they will provide resources indefinitely. We have also sometimes reduced their productivity by overusing or polluting them.

The condition of rural land is important because of the ecological services that it provides.

Texas Eco-Regions

Farmlands

Farmland is land that is used to grow crops and fruit. The U.S. contains more than 100 million hectares of prime farmland.

In 1996, the U.S. government established a national Farmland Protection Program to help state, county, and local governments protect farmland in danger of being paved over or otherwise developed. The program was renewed in 2008.

Rangelands

Land that supports different vegetation types like grasslands, shrub lands, and deserts AND that is not used for farming or timber production is called rangeland.

Rangelands can be arid, like the rangelands in the desert Southwest, or relatively wet, like the rangelands of Florida.

The most common human use of rangeland is for the grazing of livestock.

Rangeland

Cattle, sheep, and goats are common livestock on the rangeland, which are valued for their meat, milk, wool, and hides.

Native wildlife also graze these lands.

Like farmland, rangeland is essential for maintaining the world’s food supply. World population growth may require a 40 percent increase in the food production of rangeland from 1977 to 2030.

Maintaining the Range

Much of the rangeland in the U.S. is public land managed by the federal government, which leases the rangeland to ranchers. However, much of the rangeland in the U.S. is degraded.

The Public Rangelands Improvement Act of 1978 was enacted to reverse this trend and improve land management practices.

Sustaining the productivity of rangeland generally means reducing overgrazing by limiting herds to sizes that do not degrade the land.

Improving rangeland that has been degraded by overgrazing often includes methods such as killing invasive plants, planting native vegetation, and fencing areas to let them recover to the state they were in before they were overgrazed.

Ranchers also control grazing by digging many small water holes so that the vegetation around a single water hole is not overgrazed.

Rangeland can also be left unused for periods of time so that the vegetation can recover

Forests

Trees are harvested to provide products we use everyday, such as paper, furniture, and lumber and plywood for our homes.

In addition to wood and paper, we also value forest products such as maple syrup and turpentine.

There are many ecosystem services provided by forests. However, one of the most important is the removal of CO2 from the air.

Harvesting Trees

People use enormous amounts of wood.

The worldwide average is 1,800 cm3 of wood used per person each day.

However, on average, each person in the United states uses about 3.5 times this amount.

About 1.5 billion people in developing countries depend on firewood as their main source of fuel.

Tree Harvesting

The timber industry classifies forest lands into three categories:

Virgin forests: forests that have never been cut.

Native forests: forests that are planted and managed.

Tree farms: areas where trees are planted in rows and harvested like other crops.

The two most widely used methods of harvesting trees are clear-cutting and selective cutting.

Tree Harvesting

Clear-cutting is the process of removing all of the trees from and area of land. Clear-cutting large areas destroys wildlife habitat and causes soil erosion.

Selective cutting is the process of cutting and removing only middle-aged or mature trees. It is more expensive than clear-cutting, but is usually much less destructive. It is usually practiced on smaller areas owned by individuals.

Deforestation

Deforestation is the process of clearing forests.

Most countries become severely deforested as populations expand and the demand for forest products increases.

Forests are cleared to convert the land into farmland, and to make space for roads, homes, factories, and office buildings.

Deforestation reduces wildlife habitat, but it has other impacts, too.

Deforestation

For example, when forests are cleared from hillsides, soil erosion usually results if the area is not quickly planted with a cover crop. Without tree roots to hold the soil in place, it is easily washed or blown away into the valley below.

The rate of deforestation is especially high in tropical rain forests, where the soil is relatively thin. Farmers who clear forests in these areas must always move from one plot of land to another, clearing more forest land each time.

Reforestation

Reforestation is the reestablishment and development of trees in a forest land.

In some places, reforestation is happening faster than trees are being cut down.

The price of deforestation, which causes soil erosion, landslides, and flooding, is sometimes too high, so in some areas the forest has been allowed to regenerate or has been replanted.

Reforestation

Some governments require reforestation after timber has been harvested from public land. However, worldwide, more than 90 percent of all timber comes from forests that are not managed by an agency that monitors the health of forest ecosystems.

Many governments are currently working to improve reforestation efforts and to promote less destructive methods. Private organizations have established tree-planting programs on roadsides and in cities.

Parks and Preserves