798 A CENTURY OF PROGRESS IN THE NATURAL SCIENCES 



By the late 1930 's and early 1940 's, game regulations were becoming so com- 

 plex as to occupy an undue amount of time and attention on the agendas of 

 state legislatures. In many states, plenary powers were transferred from gen- 

 eral legislative bodies to fish and game commissions, which were much better 

 able to cope with the details of regulating the game kill. Today most state laws 

 dealing with wildlife are enacted by special commissions, but legislatures con- 

 tinue to dabble in the field, which still has strong political significance. The ef- 

 fort to remove wildlife administration and regulation from partisan politics has 

 been only partly successful. 



Whereas the legal custodianship of most wildlife was vested in the individual 

 states almost from the start of our national history, migratory birds became 

 wards of the United States Government following ratification of a treaty with 

 Canada in 1916 which established the international aspects of the problem. A 

 similar treaty with Mexico was signed in 1937. Thus the federal government as- 

 sumed an important responsibility in the legal protection of one class of game, 

 and current regulations for the hunting of waterfowl and such other migra- 

 tory birds as are still taken legally are set each year by the Secretary of Interior 

 upon recommendation of the Director of the Fish and Wildlife Service. 



The complicated legal machinery, state and federal, that has been created 

 to protect wildlife from overshooting has come to be considered in the public 

 mind as the skeleton and backbone of wildlife conservation. Though it will al- 

 ways be a necessary part of management, protection has probably been over- 

 rated in importance, and now more recognition is being given to habitat man- 

 agement as the principal key to game abundance. This changing point of view 

 will be discussed in a later section. 



Refuges and Sanctuaries 



At the same time that general protection was extended to American wildlife 

 in the form of legal restrictions on the kill, certain local areas were singled 

 out for more intensive development as sanctuaries. The first of these was Lake 

 Merritt in the City of Oakland, which was designated as a waterfowl sanctuary 

 in 1870 by the California legislature. Subsequently nearly all of the states 

 created numerous refuges embracing millions of acres, the assumption being 

 that on these selected areas, game could flourish and spread out to surround- 

 ing lands. 



On federal lands, wildlife was given complete protection on the national 

 parks, although not in the first years of their existence. As early as 1864 the 

 United States Congress set aside the Yosemite as a nature reserve but the main 

 objective was to conserve the forest and scenery, not the wildlife. Finally, how- 

 ever, in 1890 the Yosemite, General Grant, Sequoia, and Yellowstone areas, 

 were formerly designated as national parks and in 1894 these areas were closed 

 to hunting, as have been all the national parks and monuments ever since. Many 

 state and municipal parks likewise are maintained as sanctuaries — a good policy 

 in general, for animals that are both abundant and tame may be seen and 

 enjoyed by visitors. 



Starting in 1903 the Federal government began withdrawing additional 

 lands as wildlife refuges under the Bureau of Biological Survey, now the Fish 



