Although outdoor beauty is often associated with the spectacular or unusual, it can also exist in the ordinary or commonplace. And if we accept the definition that beauty is "any quality of sense or thought that excites an admiring pleasure," we can readily include interest and understanding along with pleasing appearance as important components in the appreciation of beauty and in the application of esthetic principles to the natural landscape.

Well-managed forests and rangelands are beautiful to those who view them impartially as well as to those who understand the concepts of land use and the long-range objectives of various management practices. A meadow is beautiful for its contrast, in form and color, with its surroundings, such as a pine forest or a chaparral-covered slope. It becomes more interesting and probably more beautiful when it is also seen as an important part of the watershed, a producer of meat and wool, or a valuable wildlife habitat. Likewise, the unbroken expanse of an evergreen forest can become dynamic, more interesting, and endowed with a particular beauty of its own when it includes well-managed logged areas and vigorous stands of new timber crops that speak of utility and husbandry.

Management of areas especially exposed to the public view, as along roads, must encompass the dual objectives of beauty and productivity to the fullest extent possible. Here the day-to-day operations must include provisions aimed at creating a pleasant site and a favorable impression of forest and range management.

BEAUTY IN WELL-MANAGED FORESTS

The forester's job is much more than the care and growing of trees for the production of wood. His task also includes the management of trees and related vegetation of the forest to protect and improve watersheds, maintain and develop recreation values, and improve wildlife habitat as well as forage conditions for livestock. Practically all lands in the United States need management, and the kind of management depends on the uses to which the land is to be put.

With skill, the forester can employ esthetic principles of variety, harmony, and contrast in his management of the resources. Good management provides an opportunity to create variety and contrast through the arrangement of timber stands of different species and sizes. The principle of harmony is embraced in multiple-use management, which gives appropriate attention to all forest resources and their uses.

Regenerating a Forest

For beauty as well as for production, the forester's job starts with the establishment of a new stand of trees adapted to the site. Esthetically, this involves two problems. The first is how to handle unmerchantable material from the previous crop. The second is how to get the new tree crop established promptly and in a manner consistent with other uses. The forester must know how to insure the success of a new crop and how to make the site pleasing to the eye. Following are some of the things he can do in the interest of esthetics when regenerating the forest.

1. Decrepit or broken trees left standing, leaning, or strewn about after a harvest cutting not only offend the eye but they often impede the growth of a healthy new crop. These could best be removed before or during the harvest.

2. The size, distribution, and shape of areas to be reforested should be planned with a view to maintaining the variety and harmony of the scene. Cleared areas should be frequent enough to impart variety, and should be fitted into the topography and local landscape in a way to impart interest and harmony. Wherever possible, boundaries should be made to follow natural breaks in topography or timber types. In addition to scenic variety, breaks in the solid forest provide habitat to attract wildlife, a feature of great appeal to the recreationist and the traveling public. These breaks also provide a place for broad-leaved low vegetation, colorful in both spring and fall.

3. Advantage should be taken of the opportunity to start new tree growth under the old, or under a nurse crop where this is possible. For example, in the Sitka spruce-western hemlock forest of the attractive North Pacific coast, it is biologically and economically possible through careful shelterwood cuttings to establish the new growth under the old. This prevents an influx of alder brush and avoids a period of delay until the conifers can grow up through the brush. Foresters are finding more and more situations where the new crop can be established before the old one is removed to give a prompt cover of the exposed area and to maintain the forest aspect.

4. Despite the esthetic advantage of getting the new crop under the old, some types of forests can be regenerated only in the open and preferably on a stirred-up seedbed. This is similar to sowing grain on a well-tilled field, and it greatly increases the chances that the area will reproduce promptly to an attractive new forest. Failure to create a stirred-up site may perpetuate a brushfield and indefinitely delay starting a new forest. There is a beauty in the rebirth of an even-aged forest. The openings are only temporary. Signs can be placed to let the public know that a new forest is on its way.

5. Foresters should use the principle of variety by striving to regenerate a mixture of trees in areas of greatest public viewing interest, as along roads. Mixed forests have greater seasonal variations, greater wildlife habitat value, and greater safety from hazards such as fire, climate, and pests, as well as greater attractiveness.

6. Removal of slashtops and limbs of harvested treesalong travel routes and from public-use areas is usually good fire insurance and always an aid to natural beauty.

Adding Beauty to a New Forest

After the new forest is started, the forester has a number of options in its culture which can contribute to natural beauty.

1. Throughout the life of a forest, there is a fine opportunity to apply esthetic principles by controlling stands through thinnings. Thinnings control the play of light and shadow in the forest along roads. Trees in thinned stands invariably are larger and more stately. Thinnings also can control the development of plants on the forest floor. Where desirable, the density of the stand can be varied to enhance a view or to hide a nuisance. Thinnings can provide sprouts and other browse for wildlife, and increase the production of nuts, acorns, and berries. Birds and animals thus attracted will be more visible to the public.

2. Release operationsfreeing desirable trees from competitionare another major esthetic tool. They should be used to favor not only the more valuable trees but other elements in selected locations, such as flowering trees and shrubs, species with beautiful foliage, berries, or special seasonal interest, and species that have particular wildlife or recreational value.

3. Fire carefully applied can also be a tool for maintaining beauty in some forests, as in the longleaf-slash pine forests of the Atlantic Coastal Plain, where a long-unburned forest contains a mass of pine litter draped on heavy brush. Since such fuel carries the grave risk of complete forest destruction by wildfire, controlled burning is a form of forest protection.

4. Judicious pruning can be used for esthetic purposes, particularly along roads, trails, and lakeshores. It allows the eye to see more, and brings light to the lower plant layer of the forest.

Variety With All-Aged Forests

Many important forest types contain trees of several ages, including such attractive mixtures as the maple-beech-hemlock forests of New England, the hemlock-redcedar forests of the western mountains, and the spruce-fir-paper birch forests of the Lake States. The all-aged forests are attractive because they contain a variety of patterns, textures, and tree sizes. Those containing hardwoods generally have lovely fall coloration.

Timber harvesting in all-aged forests removes the larger and older trees, at the same time providing more room for younger and smaller trees to grow. A forest cover always remains on the landscape, and the signs of logging are hidden or soon disappear.

All-aged management tends to increase the proportion of those components in the mixture which are least valuable commercially, for example, sugar maple and balsam fir in the eastern forest types. The problem of retaining desired components can sometimes be solved by clear cutting in small patches or strips. This practice is really even-aged management in small areas, and like all-aged management, modifies the landscape only slightly.

BEAUTY ON THE RANGE

Rangelands with their herds of cattle and sheep, cowboys and sheepherders, and wildlife such as deer, antelope, and coyotes are an exciting part of our American heritage. Almost every schoolboy is familiar with the role of ranching in the development of our country and has been thrilled by the stories and legendary characters associated with the open range and the livestock industry of the West.

Ranges can be better appreciated if we know more about their values and management. The vast public and private rangelands of our country not only provide seasonal forage for more than 50 million cattle and sheep, but also provide habitat for some 10 million big-game animals as well as countless numbers of small mammals, birds, and other species of wildlife. Rangelands are important watersheds from which come a substantial portion of the Nation's water supply. They also provide a wide variety of recreation opportunities.

Well-managed ranges with vigorous stands of vegetation present to the traveling viewer a constantly changing panorama. They may be a patchwork of contrasting plant communities, often with well-defined borders that indicate abrupt changes in one or many factors of the sitesoil, slope, exposure, moisture, or temperature. Or they may be single communities which change in appearance from season to season or even from day to night.

Domestic animals are an essential part of the range community. A rangeland view is improved when it includes livestock in good condition, vigorous vegetation, and stable soils. Enjoyment of the beauty of such a pastoral scene is increased by the satisfaction of recognizing a good job of land and livestock husbandry.

Rangeland: Integrated Plant and Animal Communities

Wild animals, too, are a source of interest and beauty. To some people the ultimate in outdoors enjoyment is viewing a deer or elk in its native habitat, or a coyote slinking across an opening in the chaparral. To others it is the sight of a gracefully soaring hawk or the song of an unseen bird. Enjoyment of wildlife, however, is heightened if it is recognized as an intrinsic part of a landscape where all living creatures are part of the biotic community. Knowledge of this community's operationsinteraction, competition, and dependence among its many plant and animal componentsleads to keener appreciation and consequently to fuller enjoyment.

Wise use of the range allows for the production and periodic harvesting of livestock and game. Since cattle and sheep compete directly with elk and deer, as well as with the smaller herbivores, range managers must control the number of animals to assure sufficient forage for both livestock and wildlife without undue damage to range vegetation and soil.

Improving the Vegetation

A range with deteriorating vegetation and eroding soil presents an ugly picture, objectionable from both the esthetic and resource-management standpoints. Reestablishing desirable herbs and shrubs not only adds beauty, but also improves the livestock range and wildlife habitat.

Sometimes the deteriorated range can be made more productive as well as pleasing to the sight by changing the existing vegetation. This may involve the control of certain undesirable species or the complete conversion of trees or brush to herbaceous vegetation. Large areas are often treated to improve their capacity for supporting livestock or wildlife and, in some instances, for improving water quality and yield. Since chemicals, fire, and heavy equipment are used to destroy the existing vegetation, the appearance of the landscape is often severely though temporarily altered. However, viewers are better able to accept such disturbances if they understand that what seems to be drastic treatment is just one of a series of steps to achieve greatly desired objectives. These scars are rapidly covered by new and more desirable vegetation.

Grassland adjacent to forest or brush cover is the preferred habitat of many wild animals. A common practice is to clear relatively small openings in timber stands or brush fields, and establish good forage in such openings. Wildlife habitat is thus greatly improved and often results in larger numbers of such species as elk, deer, and turkey. Openings also provide pleasing variations in unbroken expanses of vegetation as well as better opportunities to observe the wildlife. Special consideration should be given to such openings when planning roadside rest areas and vista points.

Harmony in Range Structures

Just as the livestock and vegetation are a vital part of the range scene, fences, corrals, and water developments can add to interest and beauty if they are made to blend in with the landscape. Appearance, as well as utility, is an important factor in the design of range structures. A whitewashed board fence is a suitable structure for an improved pasture in Kentucky and Virginia; a log or pole fence is more appropriate for separating two livestock allotments on a western National Forest. In other places, hedges of shrubs or vines may serve as fences while they also provide wildlife food and cover, and form attractive additions to the landscape. Windmills, troughs, or ponds and even commonplace corrals can be designed to harmonize with the landscape.