PROBLEMS IN WILD LIFE CONSERVATION 



is made for his removal.* Unfortunately these two units 

 are not integrated in a larger department of conservation. 



Rhode Island is not satisfied with two administrative 

 bodies; it has five separate agencies charged with the 

 regulation of various types of fish and game laws. The 

 Commissioners of Birds, five in number, appointed by 

 the governor with the consent of the Senate, have general 

 charge of the regulation of bird and game laws. 5 In addi- 

 tion to this commission, there are four other administrative 

 units: the Commissioner of Inland Fisheries, 6 the Commis- 

 sioners of Shell Fisheries, 7 the Harbor Commission, 8 and 

 the Fish Conservation Commission. 9 This is an example of 

 the extremes to which decentralization may be carried. 10 



The disadvantages of a multiple administrative system lie 

 not so much in the duplication of effort, although that is 

 important, as in the fact that a common conservation policy 

 for the state as a whole is rendered more difficult. The 

 greatest single need today in conservation is a coordination 

 of effort toward a commonly agreed upon goal. Too often 

 the work of one conservation agency counteracts the work 

 of another. This is true among the Federal agencies and 

 no less true in the state organization. 11 The easiest way to 

 obtain a common policy is through a single administrative 

 unit. 



Internal Organisation of Conservation Departments: The 

 first great question confronting the administrators, once a 



*Ibid., chap. 38, sec. i. 



5 Rhode Island General Laws (1923), chap. 137. 



6 Ibid., chap. 238. 7 Ibid., chap. 230. 



8 Ibid., chap. 644. 



9 Rhode Island Public Laws (1927), chap. 1046. 



10 Delaware runs a close second with four separate agencies. 



11 See Leopold, Aldo, " Conservation Economics," Journal of Forestry, 

 May, 1934- 



