THE FORESTER. 197 



lent and Protective Order of Elks at its last annual meeting, as well 

 as by the leading sportsmen of the country. The study of these 

 herds must necessarily be continued until the working plan is fully 

 established. 



The study of the Sun River elk herd in the Lewis and Clark Forest 

 was continued, and an examination of the area used by the Roosevelt 

 elk in the Olympic Forest was made to determine the number of elk 

 in this herd, the range used during the different seasons of the year, 

 and the number and kind of animals that w^ould have to be disposed 

 of annually if it appears that the herd should be maintained at its 

 present size but not permitted to grow larger, on account of lack of 

 suitable feeding grounds to support a greater number without recur- 

 ing seasons of starvation. 



Marked progress was made during the year in bringing together the 

 interests of the States and the Federal Government in game matters. 

 In various instances it has been possible to make State and Federal 

 authority mutually supplementary in accomplishing things difficult 

 for the Government or State working alone. 



Roads, Trails, and Other Improvements. 



As was stated in last year's report, great care was exercised in the 

 selection of projects to be constructed during the calendar year 1918, 

 to eliminate all which would tend to interfere in any way with the 

 prosecution of the war. Although the amount of work which had 

 been planned was very small and was restricted to projects for which 

 an immediate need existed or where the prosecution of the war 

 would be aided rather than hindered, it developed that the program 

 could not be carried out. Labor was hard to ^et and efficiency was 

 materially less than in preceding years. The high price of labor and 

 materials forced postponement or reduction of w^ork. Restrictions 

 placed on road materials, mainly cement and steel, delayed con- 

 struction or made necessary changes in design to utilize products 

 w^hich were locally available. However, a large amount of investi- 

 gative and survey work was carried on in anticipation of an in- 

 creased construction program following the end of the war. 



The following tabulation shows the number of mile? of public roads 

 constructed or improved prior to December 31, 1918, from the 10 per 

 cent of National Forest receipts, the appropriations under section 8 

 of the Federal aid road act and cooperative funds. 



