Range pasture benefits through tree removal

At Hopland during the 11 years of range improvement study, the total increase in ronch income through livestock use was $133.60 per acre. This value takes into account $57.09 per acre production value without improvement and treatment costs of $34.87. Thus, by reducing the woody plant component of the watershed and replacing it with herbage that livestock could use, the product values were increased fourfold. It should be noted that no fertilizer was applied in this improvement study —and that its use would probably have given a greater magnitude of production increase. It is also expected that this higher level of production can be sustained with a minimum of maintenance costs.