FISH -CULTURAL POSSIBILITIES OF THE 

 NATIONAL PRESERVES 



By D. C. Booth 



Among the later innovations in government administra- 

 tion has been the withdrawal from entry and setting aside 

 of vast tracts of land in various parts of the country for 

 forest reserves, for the preservation of objects of historic 

 and scientific interest, for the protection of fishes, song and 

 game birds, and big game, and for the benefit and enjoyment 

 of the people. Although new in- the United States, this 

 has been a well settled policy in many foreign countries for 

 a comparatively long period. It had its inception in a desire 

 to prevent ruthless waste, to develop the resources, and to 

 preserve to the people an empire of immense possibilities 

 which might otherwise fall into the hands of private owner- 

 ship for spoliation, aggrandizement, and personal gain. 



These reserves, small at first, have been augmented from 

 time to time by presidential proclamation until now they 

 comprise the stupendous total of over two hundred million 

 acres, an area several times larger than all the New England 

 States and nearly equalling the combined extent of all the 

 states bordering on the Atlantic coast. These reservations 

 and their ultimate uses are not of state or local interest 

 solely, but are of national concern ; and their administration, 

 development and protection should remain under federal 

 control. At the present time, several bureaus in the De- 

 partments of Agriculture, Commerce and Labor, Interior, 

 and War are working in harmony for the development, 

 improvement, and protection of these reservations and con- 

 serving their phenomenal resources for the whole people. 

 There are in all two hundred and thirty-six reserves, located 

 in twenty- four states and territories, of which twelve are 

 national parks, twenty-three for the preservation of objects 



