The mule deer is the number-one big-game species in the West, and a species for which the Bureau has research 

 responsibility on the Public Lands. Most of these mule-deer studies are manned and carried out cooperatively 

 with State and Federal agencies. (Photo by Ray C. Erickson) 



UPLAND WILDLIFE ECOLOGY 



Much of the resident game in the United States, 

 both birds and mammals, is produced on private 

 land, where wildlife management responsibilities 

 are primarily those of the State game and tish de- 

 partments. The Bureau of Sport Fisheries and 

 Wildlife, however, assists in research on upland 

 wildlife problems and, through cooperative agree- 

 ments and legislation, conducts wildlife studies 

 needed to provide management information for 

 Federal land-managing agencies. 



A large part of this work is on national forest 

 land, and current investigations are concerned par- 

 ticularly with wildlife atfecting forest regenera- 

 tion and range condition. The primary approach 

 in this country-wide program is close cooperation 



with Forest and Range Experiment Station per- 

 sonnel of the U.S. Forest Service. 



WildJife habitat research program setup for 

 Southwest. — In July a biologist from the Denver 

 Center was stationed at Arizona State University 

 to work cooperatively with the Rocky Mountain 

 Forest and Range Experiment Station on wildlife 

 habitat problems. One study will investigate the 

 response of wildlife to maniimlations designed to 

 enhance water yields. 



Another proposed study has been set up in the 

 Fort Bayard area of southwest New Mexico, in- 

 volving the cooperation of both the research and 

 administrative branches of the Forest Service, the 

 New Mexico Department of Game and Fish, and 

 the Bureau. Here, attempts will be made to im- 

 prove the habitat for deer, elk, anil turkey on the 



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