CHAPTER III 



THE SPHERE OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT IN 

 WILD LIFE CONSERVATION 



DURING the last half-century there has been a rapid in- 

 crease in the conservation activities of all governmental 

 agencies, which can be traced to two factors : first, the 

 awakening realization of the value of wild life to the nation 

 and, second, the knowledge that uncontrolled exploitation is 

 rapidly depleting the existing supplies. The old theory of 

 inexhaustibility dies hard, but the total disappearance of 

 some species of wild life formerly plentiful and the notice- 

 able absence of game animals in particular areas has given 

 it a final blow. 1 



The Essentials of Our Federal System: This growth in 

 conservation activities took place under our federal system 

 of government, the essential principle of which is a division 

 of power between the national government and the local 

 units of government by means of a written constitution un- 

 changeable by the ordinary process of legislation. The 

 national government and the states are each supreme within 

 the sphere marked out for them by the Constitution. 



1 The wild pigeon is an excellent example of the total disappearance 

 of a species. Enormous flock of wild pigeons formerly darkened! the 

 skies in the states of the Upper Mississippi Valley, New York, and 

 southern New England. The last great meeting in New York occurred 

 in 1868, the last large roosting in 1875, and the last great nesting in 

 Michigan, probably the last anywhere on the continent, in 1878. No 

 attempt was made to protect these birds indeed, there was little reali- 

 zation that they needed protection until they had virtually disappeared. 

 Palmer, T. S., Chronology and Index of American Game Protection, 

 Bulletin 41, Biological Survey, 1912. 



