FORESTS AND WILD LIFE 171 



Eden before them and behind them a desolate wilder- 



ness." 



The forest rangers know what havoc fire wages among 

 bird and beast. Each year tells pitiful tales of blackened nests 

 and eggs, of charred remains of fauns, young antelope and elk 

 in coverts where wild things went for shelter, but where the 

 devouring flames sought them out. It is no unusual thing after 

 severe fires to find grouse, elk, deer, bear, cougar and lynx, 

 and literally thousands of squirrels; all victims of the flames. 

 Deer and elk, terror stricken, have been seen to rush frantically 

 into the thick of the fire and perish. 



Yet, while it is pitifully true that fires surround and destroy 

 animals and birds, even greater damage is caused by the de- 

 struction of the eggs and young, and by the ruin of coverts 

 and hiding places. What these losses amount to, no one can 

 say. It must be tremendous and forestry and foresters are doing 

 their share to prevent it. 



The fisherman, too, has just as much at stake and loses just 

 as heavily as the hunter and nature lover because of fire and 

 deforestation. Fires are great fish killers. After the flames have 

 finished their destructive work and the charred stumps and 

 gray ashes have cooled, rain falls and washes into stream and 

 lake tons on tons of alkali ashes. From the slightly acid con- 

 tent, normal to good trout streams, the waters are changed to 

 alkaline. Fish cannot endure this fundamental change and as 

 a result die by thousands. 



In Louisiana is a large cypress lake used for a long time by 

 State officials in propagating fish. During the drought of sev- 

 eral summers ago its level fell and a fire raged for weeks 

 at the upper end of the lake until all vegetation there had been 



