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B. Management Practices and Uses of Public Lands The 28 million acres of public lands in the study area are used for a multiplicity of purposes. A brief description of the principal uses in as follows: Rangeland for Domestic Livestock and Wildlife: Nearly 1,500 grazing permittees and leases utilize approximately 1,000,000 AUMs of feed annually to graze cattle and sheep on the public lands. Many thousands of big game animals also utilize the public lands. Grazing privileges on the public lands have been established for meet of the basin on the basis of permanent water distribution and water ownership or control. Nearly all surface waters are appropriated by farmers or livestock users under State laws. Federal range privileges are also granted on the basin of private land ownership, history of use, and other criteria in accordance with the provisions of the Taylor Grazing Act. The Bureau, to increase the production of forage, employs various management techniques dependent on the needs and potential of the particular terrain. Many of these are undertaken in cooperation with the livestock operators. These practices include, but are not limited to, reseeding or revegetation, soil erosion control, brush eradication, noxious weed control, fire control, road construction, water development, etc. Recreation: In cooperation with the Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife and the State Came and Fish Departments, the Bureau manages the public 14Epson Perfection 4870 Photo, 400 dpi, 8 bit, 14,264,320 byte