504 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 



the usual current local tax rate is applied. There is no yield tax, but 

 the owner must agree not to pasture and must have the area surveyed. 

 These isolated cases indicate the growing appreciation of the value 

 of the wild-life resource and the need for its perpetuation and 

 management. 



THE PISGAH NATIONAL GAME PRESERVE MANAGEMENT PLAN 



The important requirements of game management have been 

 embodied in the plans of the United States Forest Service for the 

 Pisgah National Game Preserve. The important facts and features 

 of this plan are as follows: 



The preserve was created by proclamation of President Wilson, 

 October 17, 1916, on lands which the Government had acquired in 

 January 1915 under the Weeks law from the Vanderbilt Estate. The 

 number of deer on the 98,513 acres now in the preserve was probably 

 less than 1,000 at the time it was established. 



In, order that the Federal Government might assume sole control 

 of game, the State of North Carolina on March 9, 1915, ceded to the 

 Federal Government the authority to make and administer rules and 

 regulations relative to game, birds, and fish, and Congress on August 

 11, 1916 (39 Stat. 476), authorized the President to designate areas 

 that should be set aside for the protection of game animals, birds, and 

 fish and provided a penalty for trespass. From January 1915 to 

 October 17, 1916, the acquired lands now forming a portion of the 

 Pisgah National Game Preserve were open to public hunting, and 

 shortly after the preserve was established trespass was bold and 

 frequent. By 1919 law enforcement was very active, and the turn- 

 ing point in trespass came about 1922. The game census for this 

 area shows an increase in deer from 1,000 in 1916 to 5,500 in 1931. 

 The game-management plan states: 



Outstanding values as to natural resources of timber, water, and soil, charac- 

 terize the Pisgah district of the national forest of the same name. The wild-life 

 resources and their management and development are an integral unit of the 

 successful administration of the forest and preserve, which are coextensive. 

 This fact makes it imperative that the wild-life plan be closely harmonized with 

 other plans and objectives. Fortunately, this may be readily accomplished with 

 few compromises. 



Briefly, the plan involves stocking depleted game areas; removal 

 of the surplus of any species of either sex on a definite area under an 

 established procedure that includes transfer of live animals to other 

 areas for restocking and hunting; the proper determination of boun- 

 daries of the hunting area, seasons, and bag limits ; the improvement 

 and maintenance of the capacity of the area to produce forage ; inten- 

 sive studies of the wild life on the preserve in all its aspects; and edu- 

 cation of the public from many angles for the purpose of eliminating 

 influences adverse to game management. 



This plan contemplates the minimum disturbance of wild life and 

 seeks to preserve a proper balance between the plant life and animal 

 population. The underlying idea is to apply the weight of corrective 

 measures so that desirable species may be favored, as, for example, 

 by the control but not the extermination of predators. The desirable 

 species are to be maintained at the maximum reproductive capacity 

 by removal so far as possible of the less desirable individuals. The 



