2 g PROBLEMS IN WILD LIFE CONSERVATION 



or by executive order of the President. 21 The administra- 

 tion of grazing areas has been provided for by the Taylor 

 Act. 22 Certain scattered areas located near existing state 

 reservations might be turned over to the states by gift or 

 sale. But some new method must be provided for the ad- 

 ministration of remaining public domain, most of which is 

 desert country of a type which is not administered by any 

 existing federal agency. 



The problem of bringing privately owned lands into con- 

 formity with a national land plan is a more difficult one. 

 Three methods of control have been used in different parts 

 of the country with a considerable measure of success. The 

 Wisconsin state legislature in 1932 passed a law authorizing 

 county boards to zone their respective counties as forest, 

 recreational, and unrestricted areas, according to type of land 

 and accessibility to existing roads and schools. 23 



If a county has been so zoned further settlement for year 

 around agricultural use will not be permitted in any except 

 unrestricted areas. This rural zoning is comparable to urban 

 zoning which, as a method of regulation, is constitutional 

 under the police power of the state. Zoning as a control 

 measure for national land planning assumes, of course, co- 

 operation by the states, for it involves a power of the state, 

 not of the federal government. 



Tax abatements offers the second method of control. It 

 is entirely possible to work out a system of taxation whereby 

 an individual will receive rebates provided he puts his land 

 into forestry or maintains cover helpful to wild life. It 

 seems clear that the nation is committed in the future to the 

 policy of repairing at public expense in so far as it is pos- 

 sible the damage done to natural resources. In other words, 

 the nation will have to foot the bill in case the individual 



21 On power of Congress and President over public domain, note p. 45. 



22 48 Stat. L. 1274. 



23 Wisconsin Statutes, section 59.97 (1932). 



