Planning for Alaska's Big Game—Murie 263 



Yellowstone herd to low figures, and we don't know what the 

 end will be. It has been urged that the surplus animals be 

 shipped alive to other parts of the country. But where? We can 

 find no more places for elk. We had no planning for wildlife 

 in the early stages of the development of the West. Even today, 

 present reclamation plans, drawn up without adequate con- 

 sideration of all public needs, will in some instances shrink 

 wildlife winter range still further. 



Alaska had a unique opportunity to study the failures in the 

 States, to study the needs of caribou and other big game, to 

 study the social and economic needs of the foreseeable future, 

 and to make long-range plans for land use in one of the most 

 interesting areas we have. Alaska could take the lead by putting 

 into practice integrated planning, and thereby do a service to 

 the Nation. This is nothing more disturbing today than the 

 spectacle of public agencies making their blueprints for the 

 future, each in its specialty, and ignoring the needs in other 

 fields of human endeavor. The recently established Kenai 

 National Moose Range, with a qualified biologist in charge, 

 capable of putting into effect management plans with regard 

 for the balance between forage supply and game, and with 

 consideration of the total fauna and flora, is a most encouraging 

 step in the right direction. 



Reindeer raising is not compatible with maintaining wild 

 caribou. It has been proven that when the two interests occupy 

 the same ground, one must go. There is range for only one. 

 In some instances the caribou are deliberately killed off, since 

 they interfere with reindeer herding. This has happened over 

 much of the reindeer country along Bering Sea. Or the caribou 

 will lead away the reindeer in their migrations, until few or 

 none remain. A classical example was the unfortunate attempt 

 years ago to place a federal reindeer herd in Broad Pass. It was 

 doomed to failure from the start, for this was in the migration 

 route of the caribou. 



A zoning system is essential, reserving certain areas for do- 

 mestic reindeer, and other areas for caribou. Perhaps a fresh, 

 objective inquiry into the status of reindeer is desirable. In 



