606 MAN AS A CONQUEROR 



some plan should emanate from this source. The fact is that about 

 fourteen Federal agencies have worked more or less at cross pur- 

 poses because of the intricacies of red tape, and the results are far 

 from satisfactory. 



One agency of the Federal government, for example, reserves a 

 large breeding area such as Tule Lake in northern California for the 

 use of various species of waterfowl. This vast area is the nesting 

 place of thousands of our wild migratory waterfowl, and was set 

 aside for breeding purposes by the late Theodore Roosevelt. A few 

 years ago $824,000 was allocated to the Reclamation Bureau for the 

 purpose of draining this vast lake and converting it into farm land, 

 the maximum worth of which could not possibly exceed $300,000. 

 As a result it was reported that in the spring of 1935 agents of the 

 Reclamation Service burned the cattails and rushes along the borders 

 of the lake and literally cooked the eggs in about 800 wild goose 

 nests, — and this to improve the grazing conditions of the region. 



Another example of destructive conservation appears in the appro- 

 priation of $200,000 for the eradication of snails in four states of the 

 Pacific Northwest. The purpose of this was the control of the sheep 

 liverfluke. No one denies the desirability of helping the sheep owner 

 with the problem of controlling parasites which do much damage to 

 his flocks. But the method proposed for accomplishing this end is in 

 many respects worse than the disease. The plan called for the placing 

 of copper sulphate, a deadly protoplasmic poison, in the streams of 

 the region. This is an efficacious method of getting rid of snails, 

 but unfortunately it also kills all the other organisms which play such 

 an important part in the economics of stream life. 



One of the most disturbing actions with reference to fish conserva- 

 tion is the construction of huge power dams on rivers which are high- 

 ways for migrating salmon on their way to the spawning beds. Espe- 

 cially is this a serious menace in the case of high dams, where the fish 

 attempt to enter the current flowing from the power plant instead of 

 ascending the fish ladders that are provided, and thus die without 

 being able to deposit their eggs. There is little doubt that the dams 

 now projected in the Columbia River may, within a short period of 

 time, sound the knell of the salmon-fishing industry in this region. 



Clearly the answer to the questions raised in the preceding para- 

 graphs can only be furnished by the formation of some Federal 

 Bureau which has the power to regulate all agencies for conservation. 

 The first annual meeting of the North American Wild Life Conference 



