r^^i^f, V^ 



A Typical Game Refuge 



Stock is being kept out of this area so that it may be turned into a game refuge. The view is 

 looking across Boulder Basin from the South Fork Divide in the Shoshone National Forest. The 

 timber is Lodgepole pine and Douglas fir. 



A CHANCE FOR THE GAME 



By Smith Rilev. 



THERE are 180 million acres of 

 National Forests in the United 

 States and Alaska, within the 

 borders of which practically 

 every type of forest land is to be found 

 Excellent forage conditions are every- 

 where available, and an enormous 

 amount of domestic stock is annuallv 

 developed and fattened upon the for- 

 est ranges. As meat values continue to 

 advance, other ranges, now inaccessi- 

 ble, will receive domestic stock and the 

 number carried yearly by National 

 Forest ranges will be increased. The 

 question is asked : What is to become 

 of the big game that in the past was 

 so plentiful throughout our moun- 



594 



lainous country? Must it all go as have 

 some of the species that once occupied 

 the great plains country? Many peo- 

 ple have decried the current belief that 

 ihe game must perish as settlemei^t ad- 

 vances, and that the mountain ranges 

 are needed to summer stock which can 

 be wintered at a pro tit upon forage 

 crops produced upon the settlers' tilla- 

 ble lands. It would appear from the 

 location of game refuges in ditterent 

 parts of the country that there is senti- 

 ment in favor of preserving at least 

 certain species of big game animals. 

 This movement is looked upon by many 

 as founded largely upon sentiment and 

 not as a practical matter. 



