20                        THE UTAH JUNIPER 
             WILDLIFE AND THE PUBLIC DOMAIN 
                          DR. D. IRVIN RASMUSSEN 
                  IHead, Department of l ildlife Managgment 
                        School of Forestry. V. S. -4. C. 
 
     To those interested or directly concerned with the public domain, the

 years 1934 and 1935 will be of significance as marking the time that dis-

 cussions of the past several decades, relative to controlling western public

 ranges, gave way to some definite planning, and non-action to the enactment

 of legislation to "stop injury to the public grazing lands . . . to
provide 
 for their orderly use, improvement and development . . ." This present

 change can not be attributed to any one cause but to what is, in reality,

 a cumulative sentiment for the conservation of the natural resources, 
 occurring at a time when general economic conditions are demonstrating 
 the need for land use planning and wise land usage. 
     In a wise land usage program for the public domain all decisions 
 relative to use can not be limited solely to the determination of proper

 numbers, distribution and kinds of domestic stock. Certain areas of these

 ranges will, no doubt, become economically more valuable for related uses,

 as erosion control, recreation and in limited tracts to development of health

 and winter resorts, than for the grazing of domestic livestock alone. 
     Within the western public domain states the business of producing 
livestock is a basic industry. In any present economic evaluation of the

use of these public ranges, it is logical that the greater part of the avail-

able forage produced shall be devoted to this industry. There is, however,

a need for recognition of variable use on separate areas and a definite 
program to insure the consideration of these related values. Among those

to be considered are the educational and recreational values of the present

and potential wildlife resources. No present program      can completely

predict the possibilities and needs of future years. Nevertheless, there
are 
indications of certain objectives that belong in the original set-up. 
    There is need for recogniation of at least three types of areas on what

is now heavily used public domain: 
     (1) Refuges set aside as permanent wildlife reservations in which 
livestock are of secondary consideration or entirely excluded; 
     (2) Areas where livestock production-is the major objective but where

wildlife values should be recognized and suitable provisions made for their

preservation; and 
     (3) Areas grazed by livestock but where wildlife values are a very 
minor consideration or non-existent. 
    None of these divisions can be fully and completely delineated at the

present time any more than all tracts can now be given fixed allotments of

livestock, the numbers of which shall remain unchanged over a long period

of years. The vital need is the recognition of the definite wildlife values

on possibly thirty or forty million acres of the 165,695,000 acres and not

merely the creation of a few limited refuges as the entire program. 
    Refuges are a necessary part in any program that has as its objective

the restoration or preservation of native animals. They are needed on 
the public domain for both the big game and upland birds. Care must be 
exercised in their selection to insure their suitability as regards both
size 
and location. Within tracts that we are apt to designate as winter range,