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• 3.0 RANGE CONDITION AND SUCCESSIONAL STATUS OF VEGETATION TYPES Neither the Pinyon/Juniper Woodland nor the Mountain Shrubland represents significant grazing resources, except for those parts of the Mountain Shrubland which have been burned and/or otherwise cleared. In the latter areas, the woody component has not re-established the complete dominance it holds in the other parts of the mapping unit. Grasses and fortis com- prise a substantial portion of the cover and production of the area. Species composition resulting from the disturbance has been so altered that range condition would be deemed "fair." "Fair" range condition would be assigned because of the shrub component, which provides as much as 35 percent of total composition and brings the percent of original Iclimaxl composition (Brushy Loam range site, SCS Southern Rocky Mountain Land Resource Area) above the 25 percent level by itself. The herbaceous component is composed of species colonizing the burned area and not remnants left after years of grazing pressure. The remainder of the Mountain Shrubland is not a significant grazing resource because of the dense shrub cover and the lack of herbaceous growth. The dense shrub cover may be the result of abuse in a stand once more open in structure and with greater herbaceous production. The current vegetational composition apparently is stable, with no obvious tendency for development of openings in the shrub cover that would allow more • herbaceous growth. In the Pinyon/Juniper Woodland, the lack of herbaceous understory growth may likewise be the result of abusive grazing in the past. The type has very little utility as a grazing resource for domestic animals because of the scarcity of herbaceous (ants, especially grasses, in the areas of dense canopy cover and the steepness and rockiness in the more open sites. At present there is no obvious successional trend toward more or less woody cover; probably no great change can occur until the death of some of the current over story dominants. At that time, grazing pressure, the proximity of herbaceous seed sources, and climatic condi- tions would determine whether herbaceous vegetration could maintain a presence in competition with the offspring of the current woody dominants. -6-