A RANGE MANAGER LOOKS AT HIS JOB by A. L. ROHWER, Manager, District Office, Battle Mountain, Nevada, BLM 법 ་ 7111 EOPLE sometimes ask me, "What does a man do as the Manager of a District Office with BLM? What are his responsibilities? How does he do it? And what does he do every day?" Well, let's take a look at the records of one Range Manager and his staff and see if we can find out. The District is called Central Nevada (Nevada No. 6), and I'm the Range Manager. My headquarters and home are in Battle Mountain, a small town in north-central Nevada on U. S. Highway 40. The Central Nevada District covers an area of about 7,800,000 acres-that's a little larger than the combined areas of Vermont and Delaware, with the District of Columbia thrown in. About 94 percent of the District is federally owned land; the other 6 percent is almost all privately owned. Altogether, it stretches north and south about 190 miles and runs east and west for some 80 miles. Battle Mountain is at an elevation of 4,512 feet above sea level; other areas of the District are from about 4,500 to 10,500 feet elevation. Rainfall over this range land area of central Nevada varies from about 212 to 15 inches a year. HIGH GRASS marks areas of improved range management. production, stabilized soils, and reduced erosion. How much is that? Well, New York City averages 42 inches; St. Louis has about 38; Los Angeles about 142; and Boise, Idaho, almost 1112. Reno, Nevada, has an annual precipitation average of about 7 inches. The grazing value of the local range lands varies rather widely, depending on the amount of rainfall, type of soil, vegetation, and many other things. On some of the lands it takes two or three acres to carry one cow for one month. On other areas it may take a square mile to support a couple of cows on a year-long basis. And some of the lands are just plain too arid to economically support any livestock. Even these lands are important to range management, though, for what happens on and to them often affects other grazing lands nearby. For the purpose of helping me do my job, the District is divided into 27 parts called range units. These are mostly smaller areas (such as a drainage basin) that are conveniently defined and identified. The job of a Range Manager was spelled out in 1934 when the Congress passed the Taylor Grazing Act. The purpose of the Law is "to stop injury Good management of the public range lands means good livestock |