STATE CONSERVATION DEPARTMENTS 



199 



sloughs cut off from the river. In due time, with the com- 

 ing of the summer, these areas dry up and the fish, unable 

 to return to the river, are killed. Salvage crews of the 

 Division of Fish Culture in the Department of Game and 

 Fish work these sloughs in the late spring and early summer 

 with nets, returning the fish taken to the main river or to 

 nearby lakes in need of restocking. 54 



The setting aside of natural breeding areas for wild game 

 has become a widespread custom among the states. New 

 York has eleven game and fish refuges, five of which are 

 located within forest preserves. The scientific administra- 

 tion of such areas is a new phase of the development of a 

 state conservation policy, the need of which has become 

 apparent only in recent years. 55 



A still more recent development has been the establish- 

 ment of state game farms chiefly for the breeding of game 

 birds. In many states such farms are administered by a 

 division of the fish and game department but in others they 

 are privately owned and managed, the state merely buying 

 a certain amount of their stock each year and releasing it. 56 



The rapid development within recent years of the fur 

 farming industry has brought forward other problems, 

 chiefly of a financial nature. Presumably a state ought to 

 encourage fur farming, as it increases the total wild life 

 within the state and tends to relieve the pressure upon fur 

 animals in the wild. This much is certain: the American 

 demand for furs far exceeds the domestic supply. For this 

 reason, if for no other, domestication of fur-bearing animals 

 should be encouraged. 



54 For details of this work see reports of Minnesota Game and Fish 

 Department. 



55 See p. 102 for report of Biological Survey management policy. 



56 Report of the State Board of Fisheries and Game, Conn. (1932), 

 P. 23. 



