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PROBLEMS IN WILD LIFE CONSERVATION 



Today the primary aim of the Forest Service is to con- 

 serve the timber resources of the nation, and secondarily to 

 permit their use for all purposes not incompatible with the 

 primary aim. Where the forests are suitable they are open 

 to grazing of domestic stock. In favorable locations the 

 forests are stocked with game and fish to make them attrac- 

 tive to vacationers. Grazing and park use are not neces- 

 sarily opposed to each other because in general they call for 

 different types of land. 14 However, it does require system- 

 atic planning to determine the proper ratio of grazing area 

 to land reserved for the vacationists. An all-round plan of 

 forest development was drafted with the aid of the other 

 conservation bureaus in 1928 pursuant to a Congressional 

 act of that year. 15 



With a view of a planned development of the wild-life 

 resources within the forest, the Forest Service requires an 

 annual statistical report from each supervisor on fish and 

 game conditions in the area under his charge. Coordinat- 

 ing these reports is the duty of a special man detailed for 

 that purpose on the staff of the western regions where the 

 need is greatest. As the problem is essentially one of forest 

 planning it is handled by the personnel of the Service itself. 

 However, it is the policy of the Service to make use of the 

 other conservation bureaus for solution of technical prob- 

 lems that arise, for the supplying of fish for the streams, 

 and for the control of predatory animals when they become 

 too numerous. 



It is tacitly recognized that the state normally has control 

 over animals ferae naturae found in national forests as well 

 as on other lands within the state. The Forest Service has 



14 Hearings on Grazing Sheep in National Forests, Special Committee 

 on Conservation of Wild Life Resources, United States Senate, 73rd 

 Cong., 2nd Sess., Jan. 27, 1934. 



15 McSweeny-McNary Act, 45 Stat. L. 699. 



