4o6 



Houo Living Things Affect One Another 



UNIT VII 



Union realized that beavers, so valuable 

 to Russia for fur, were very near extinc- 

 tion. Steps have been taken to restore 

 them by protecting the breeding 

 grounds. Ecologists the world over are 

 stressing the importance of understand- 

 ing the relationships of living things in 

 order that certain industries may be 

 saved and that wild animals and plants 

 may be preserved. 



Steps taken to conserve wildlife. Wild- 

 life conservation has become so impor- 

 tant that some colleges now give courses 

 in the subject and men and women are 

 taking it up as a career. Some years ago 

 the Federal Government created the Bu- 

 reau of Biological Survey to study the 

 relationships between plants and animals, 

 particularly the way in which we have 

 interfered with normal relationships. 

 More recently this bureau was combined 

 with the Bureau of Fisheries into one 

 department known as the U.S. Fish and 

 Wildlife Service. Besides engaging in 

 research this Service has introduced the 

 idea of raising wildlife as one would raise 

 crops; farmers are taught to raise smaller 

 mammals and birds useful as insect de- 

 stroyers. Fish are being raised, too, in 

 enormous numbers in fish hatcheries; 

 ponds and streams are being regularly 

 stocked with them. 



The Wildlife Service works in close 

 cooperation with State agencies and such 

 organizations as the National Association 

 of Audubon Societies, the American 

 Tree Association, and others to protect 

 animals and plants from destruction. 

 They have bought and set aside huge 

 tracts of land as places where hunting is 

 forbidden and no one may interfere with 

 the norma] life of the wild animals that 



live there. Besides our many large na- 

 tional parks, there are smaller sanctu- 

 aries, places of refuge and protection. 

 Very important in our attempt to con- 

 serve wildlife is preventing its ruthless 

 destruction. Many wild plants and 

 smaller animals may be found even on 

 vacant city lots. You will find Exercise 

 2 most interesting. 



Bird and game laws. In an effort to 

 protect birds against the activities of 

 hunters. State and Federal laws have been 

 passed. One law (the Lacey law) pro- 

 hibits shipping birds out of the state in 

 which they have been illegally killed. In 

 the days when the snowy egret was be- 

 ing killed in huge numbers in Florida 

 swamps to provide feathers for women's 

 hats throughout this country, this law 

 was necessary. Another law (the A'lc- 

 Lean bill) makes it unlawful to kill all 

 but a few kinds of insect-eating birds. 

 There is a migratory bird treaty between 

 the United States and Canada which pro- 

 tects those birds that migrate from one 

 country to the other. 



Other animals are also protected by 

 law. Some mammals are completely pro- 

 tected. Some may be hunted only during 

 a short "open" season, never while the 

 young are dependent on their parents. 

 The open season for some game is made 

 extremely short and the number of ani- 

 mals that may be killed by one person is 

 limited. Often it is only the males that 

 may be caught or killed. If such laws are 

 enforced, destruction of a species is im- 

 possible. Fish, too, are protected by simi- 

 lar laws. Your class will be interested in 

 trying Exercises 3 and 4. 



What have we learned? We make great 

 efforts to conserve forests and wild life 



