498 A NATIONAL PLAN FOE AMERICAN FORESTRY 



measures as are necessary to keep forest land productive, contribute 

 to the welfare of wild life. 



The requirements of game, previously mentioned in connection 

 with habitat, for various types of cover, are directly concerned with 

 silvicultural methods used in cutting, slash disposal, and reforestation. 

 Cutting operations open up the forest canopy and provide food and 

 cover by encouraging the growth of low herbaceous and shrubby 

 vegetation, and succulent sprouts highly relished by various wild- 

 life species. On the other hand, game populations so increased may 

 be expected to diminish gradually as the forests mature and food 

 supply diminishes. Management must seek a proper balance based 

 on the relative importance of each resource in the locality concerned. 



For several years after unburned hardwoods are clean cut, sufficient 

 food is available for deer but the shelter, except where mild climate 

 prevails, is inadequate. Either advance growth should be available 

 or maturing timber is needed to provide shelter. 



Aldo Leopold, in the article in the Journal of Forestry already 

 cited, asserts that in the layout of plantations, the effect of food 

 and cover requirements on deer population should be considered. 

 If the daily cruising radius of a deer is about 2 miles and the seasonal 

 about 15 miles, the planting program should provide the different 

 types of cover sought by them accordingly. His investigations of 

 game in the Central States show that a bird supply on farm wood lots 

 is dependent on the farmer leaving his brush on the ground and pre- 

 venting destruction of undergrowth which furnishes cover for the 

 birds. 



The heavy deer population on forested lands in Pennsylvania has 

 seriously affected certain forest areas, according to Henry E. Clepper 

 in his bulletin entitled "The Deer Problem in Pennsylvania/' He 

 shows that protective measures resulted in an increase in numbers of 

 deer in some sections to the extent that in their search for food they 

 destroyed all advanced tree reproduction by browsing, and ate all 

 foliage and twigs within their reach. 



GRAZING OF DOMESTIC LIVESTOCK 



Probably in no other phase of forest-land management is the 

 interrelation of wild life production and other forest uses so apparent 

 as in the use of the forest range by wild life and domestic livestock. 



Measures adopted on the national forests during the past 20 years, 

 resulting in an increase of grazing game animals, and requiring in many 

 instances adjustments between game and domestic stock, have sharply 

 focused the attention of foresters and game specialists upon the need 

 for carefully planned and coordinated use of forest grazing areas. 



The outstanding example is on the Kaibab Plateau where an area 

 now comprising about 857,000 acres, was set aside in 1906 as a Federal 

 game preserve, with deer the principal game species. A measure of 

 protection was afforded by the operations of the United States Bio- 

 logical Survey up to 1923 in destroying predators, and conditions were 

 made favorable for the deer in other ways. As a result, deer increased 

 until the forage-producing capacity of the area was insufficient not 

 only for the deer and domestic stock, but even for the deer alone. 

 Notwithstanding a reduction of domestic livestock, to a point where 

 competition with the deer was at a minimum, the continued increase 



