THE NATIONAL FORESTS: THE LAST FREE HUNTING 

 GROUNDS OF THE NATION 



By Aldo Leopold 

 Secretary, Chainher of Commerce, Albitquerque, X. M. 



In a previous article^ I have made the following assertions, which 

 have so far not been disputed : 



1. The demand for hunting on the National Forests exceeds the 

 supply. 



2. The practicability of increasing production by applying scientilic 

 principles is not hampered by inaccessibility, as with timber. Hunting 

 is in demand and is marketable wherever found. 



3. Therefore the time is ripe for scientific game management on the 

 National Forests, and its development presents a duty and an oppor- 

 tunity to Foresters. 



The foregoing argument is premised on the present relation of Na- 

 tional Forest game resources to the present hunting public. It is the 

 purpose of this paper to forecast the future relation of these resources 

 to the future hunting public and to point out certain conclusions bear- 

 ing on the present game policy of the Forest Service. 



What do we know about the future himting public? There are three 

 points which may so safely be predicted that they require nothing more 

 than a mere enumeration : 



First, the hunting instinct is a fixed character, and will continue to 

 appear in a certain proportion of all normally developed individuals. 

 The number of hunters will increase at least as fast as the population. 



Second, the proportion of hunters to whom the National Forests are 

 accessible will increase by leaps and bounds. Good roads, automobiles, 

 and airplanes — what more need be said? 



Third, the leisure and the means to indulge the taste for hunting will 

 grow with the growing recognition of outdoor recreation as a vital 

 necessity, with the increase of wealth, and with the cheapening of indi- 

 vidual transportation. 



In short, hunting on the National Forests will in the future attract 

 more people, for more time, from a vastly greater territory. This much 

 is self-evident, and all these factors will operate to intensify the demand 

 for hunting on the Forests. 



^ "Forestry and Game Conservation," Journal of Forestry, April, 1918. 

 150 



