ECONOMIC BIOLOGY 381 



restoration policies to include not only careful regulation of the annual 

 kill but the development of practical management methods on farm lands, 

 the reservation of portions of the hereditary ranges of wildlife for its per- 

 manent use, and its definite inclusion in all land utilization plans involving 

 drainage, the impounding of water, or the withdrawal of lands from agri- 

 culture. 



Advancing civilization, drainage, agriculture, destruction of the forests, 

 pollution of waters, have progressively taken heavy toll of our wildlife. 

 Breeding grounds have been destroyed by promotion schemes which were 

 economically and biologically unsound. Just as the range of the bison 

 was needed for domestic cattle, so the vast prairies of the North Central 

 states were needed for wheat and corn, cows and pigs. Millions of acres 

 of wildlife habitat were needlessly destroyed, with no benefit to agriculture. 

 Approximately 75,000,000 acres were drained in the United States alone. 

 Added to these encroachments upon wildlife habitats, intensive farming 

 practices, the elimination of the hedgerows and stake and rider fences of 

 yesteryear, removed much desirable breeding and feeding cover for game 

 and other wildlife. 



WILDLIFE ADMINISTRATION 



Wildlife conservation through enforcement of game laws and propa- 

 gation of game stock is now an established policy in every state; but wild- 

 life management is a comparatively recent conception of public administra- 

 tive responsibility. It is commonly accepted that wild birds and mammals 

 are under state control, excepting birds of migratory habits and wildlife 

 in the national parks, which by specific acts of Congress have been made 

 wards of the federal government. The great bulk of the nation's wildlife 

 resources are therefore in the custody of the states. The first state game 

 commissions were established in California and New Hampshire in 1878. 

 State game administration today varies greatly, but the majority of the 

 states nov/ operate under the supervision of non-salaried commissions as 

 the policy-making body, with state organizations charged with enforcing 

 the game laws, propagation and planting of game, administration of state 

 refuges and promotion of wildlife research. 



The Biological Survey of the United States Department of Agriculture 

 began in 1885. As the principal federal agency concerned with wildhfe, 

 the survey deals scientifically with the resource in all its aspects. These 

 include the relationship of wildlife to agriculture and forestry, and the 

 interrelationships existing between various forms and species, the study of 

 diseases and food habits and the control of injurious forms. 



MIGRATORY BIRDS 



The ducks and geese of North America have decreased with appalling 

 rapidity. Destruction of nesting and breeding areas by reclamation, drain- 



