The Use of Basic Principles in the Classification of Range Vegetation.

Knowledge of communities as they occur on the range is essential to good management; their composition, structure, site relations, successional status, forage values, and classification. The classification of range vegetation is challenging, and at the same time baffling. In the classification of any kind of objects it is necessary, first of all, to possess considerable information about their properties. Our knowledge of range vegetation is, however, fragmentary. At the present time it is inadequate for a sound, comprehensive classification. The evaluation of principles can serve as a guide to aid in the collection of data which will be most useful in classification. To be of greatest validity a classification must be based upon principles pertaining to properties that are inherent in the vegetation itself. When other substances are classified, such as soils, species of plants and animals, or chemical compounds, it is taken for granted that the inherent properties of these substances are used.