THE RELATION OF GAME PRESERVATION TO FORESTRY. 4O9 



If what is left of the forests of Minnesota could be protected 

 and suitable reforesting take place on cut-over lands, we would 

 be sure of our game supply for all time to come. In fact, every 

 game protector ought to be a forest protector, because both go hand 

 in hand. 



Every fisherman ought to be a forest protector. The more 

 forests we have had at the head of our streams and land around our 

 lakes, the more flow of water we will have and, consequently, the 

 more fish. In fact, the forest is necessary to the life of our fish 

 and game supply, because without it neither can exist for any 

 great length of time. The success that is being met with yearly 

 with any attempt at forest preservation is a full answer to the 

 question. We see the benefits of it here right in our own state, 

 in our little Itasca Park, a small area, only seven miles square ; 

 but already the deer and moose and feathered game know they 

 will not be molested there and flock there for shelter and protection. 

 W hat would it be if it was four times as large? The surplus that 

 would be left after filling this park and spreading out to the other 

 parts of the state would insure splendid shooting. 



Perhaps the greatest example of this is the Yellowstone Park. 

 There the woods have been left undisturbed and the game within 

 to grow and thrive under absolutely undisturbed and natural condi- 

 tions. Of course, we could take many lessons from Europe along 

 this line, in regard to forestry and game protection combined. 



Had the government set aside the 800,000 acres of land and 

 water known as the "Chippewa Reservation," not only the water 

 supply of the Mississippi would have been conserved for all time 

 to come, but wc tvould hafve had the greatest game preserve in the 

 world today. In that 800,000 acres a game nursery would have 

 been created that would have been inexhaustible and been one of 

 the greatest revenues the state of Minnesota could have had. 



A great many people laugh at the idea that the game and fish 

 of our state amount to anything. They say it was only made for a 

 certain few fellows who have got the leisure to go out to hunt and 

 fish ; but no greater mistake was ever made. I claim (without fear 

 of contradiction) that the game of Minnesota played a more im- 

 portant part than any other agency in making the homes of the 

 settler and sustaining them in the wilderness when clearing their 

 land ; and the hardy pioneers who came to Minnesota thirty, 

 forty and fifty years ago have time and again borne testimony to 

 this fact, that without the game they never could have lived and 

 blazed the way for the men who are to come after. 



I might mention other places, such as the Adirondack forests, 

 but we have lots of examples in our own state to draw from. 



