Laserfiche WebLink
<br />rado is softwood, mostly native lodgepole and <br />ponderosa pine, Engelmann spruce, and Douglas- <br />fir. Other species found are white fir, blue <br />spruce, bristlecone pine, alpine fir, cork bark fir, <br />and quaking aspen. <br />Fire protection is required on nearly all areas. <br />About 88 percent is effectively protected at the <br />present time, and fire losses in Colorado are not <br />large. The greatest timber losses in the State <br />are due to insects, weather, disease, and other <br />causes. More than 3 million cubic feet of timber <br />and growing stock were lost to these causes in <br />a recent year. <br /> <br />Range Resources oj Colorado <br /> <br />The range resources of Colorado are extensive. <br />Including woodlands and forests that are used <br />for grazing, about two-thirds of the land area <br />of the State is used for grazing-almost 46 <br />million acres. <br />Only about a million acres of the land used <br />for grazing. is cropland. Most of the rest is <br />land that is too dry or rocky or steep to be culti- <br />vated. Surprisingly little land in Colorado is <br />so poor that it cannot be used for grazing. <br />More than half of Colorado's range land is <br />privately owned. The State itself owns about <br />3 million acres used for grazing, and the Federal <br />Government owns a little more than 15 million <br />acres. <br />The bulk Of the publicly owned rangelands <br />are administered by the Bureau of Land Manage- <br />ment. More than 7 million acres are within <br />grazing districts established under the Taylor <br />Grazing Act. of 1934. Livestock owners are <br />permitted to run their animals on the public <br />lands for a certain length of time each year for <br />a fee. <br />Livestock and other commercial animals in <br />the State have a total value of about $70 million. <br />This includes 1,675,000 cattle, 45,000 horses, <br />1,525,000 sheep, and about a thousand mules. <br />In addition to livestock, wildlife also makes <br />extensive use of Colorado's rangelands. On <br />lands administered by the Bureau of Land Man- <br />agement alone more than 345,000 deer, 4,400 elk, <br />5,065 antelope, and 200 mountain sheep graze at' <br />least part of the year. <br /> <br /> <br />. Barren acres have been transformed into orchards pro. <br />ducing high-value fruits by Reclamation's Colorado-Big <br />Thompson Project. <br /> <br />Cattle in Colorado forRl an important part of the State's <br />agricultural resources. <br /> <br /> <br />35 <br />