Ecological Studies in a Midwestern Range: The Vegetation and Effects of Cattle on Its Composition and Distribution

A s DEFINED by law, the Conservation and Survey Division of the University includes the following state departments and surveys: Service. Its major purpose is to study and describe the state's resources and industries for use and development. Reports of the Division are published in three series, Nebraska Geological Survey Bulletins , Nebraska Geological Survey Papers, and Nebraska Conservation Bulletins. The soil and water surveys are regularly published in the series of the U. Native range and pastures are among the most important natural resources in the western half of the United States. According to Doctor J. E. Weaver and Mr. G. W. Tomanek, the purpose of this bulletin is to describe the effects of a half century of grazing on a large native prairie in eastern Nebraska. When native prairie is grazed and trampled various changes occur, the nature and extent of which vary somewhat directly with the degree of disturbance. Doctor Weaver is eminently fitted by long study of grasslands in Nebraska, the midwest, and far west to understand and analyze the problems of grazing native pastures. He knows that forage produced in pastures is an important crop largely within the control of man and that a study of the activities of the grazing animals as well as the vegetation is essential to an understanding of proper range management.