A NATIONAL PLAN FOB AMERICAN FORESTRY 505 



natural fauna is considered adequate in point of variety and abundance 

 to furnish the stocking required. 



The plan of wild-life management for the Pisgah National Game 

 Preserve is probably one of the most forward-looking game plans in 

 this country. It embodies many of the essential features of good 

 conservation practice, such as unity of control, the principle of sus- 

 tained yield, and correlated multiple-use forest-land management. 



WILD-LIFE SUPPLY 



Table 1, allowing for considerable variation in estimates, indicates 

 wide differences in game supply by broad regions of the United 

 States. Certain species of wild life are unquestionably increasing in 

 an appreciable degree and over considerable areas. The estimated 

 increase in numbers of game animals on the national forests during 

 the period 1926-31, for example, is 40 percent. This increase can be 

 attributed primarily to the practice of good land management over 

 a long period, which has provided the variety of food, cover, and 

 protection essential for game welfare. Better regulation of hunting 

 is provided through the cooperation of the State game departments 

 and the Forest Service than can be afforded to areas of diverse 

 ownership. Many States do not have the finances to provide ade- 

 quate regulation when such regulation is dependent entirely on State 

 patrol. Another important factor in the management of national 

 forest lands is the technical research, advice, and assistance provided 

 by the Biological Survey. 



Outside of the national forests in several States certain species of 

 game are increasing where conditions have been made favorable for 

 them, and regulation has been applied. Elsewhere, and in general, 

 game has without question decreased and is still decreasing on much 

 of the forested area of the country. There are numerous reasons for 

 this condition. Increase of hunters is one. The statement in the 

 report of the Senate Committee on Conservation of Wild Life Resources 

 which notes a 400 percent increase in hunters and fishermen in the 

 decade ending in 1930 has been previously cited. Greater mobility 

 of hunters who, first by automobile and lately by air, can travel 

 great distances to obtain their favorite form of sport, lack of adequate 

 control of hunting, fire, and disease have all played their part. More- 

 over, notwithstanding the inroads upon game supplies from the 

 above causes, deterioration and destruction of food and cover and 

 other right enrivonmental conditions of habitat have been important 

 factors in still further reducing the numbers of game. Reduction in 

 quail in the Central States and other eastern regions is due^in large 

 measure to removal of quail cover by clean farming operations and 

 woodland grazing, according to Aldo Leopold. In this region agricul- 

 turists have exhorted the farmer to clean up his farm, brush, and 

 fences, plow up hedgerows, and clear away brush from farm woodlands. 

 This has effectively reduced the quail and grouse population on 

 farms. 



Quail in the San Joaquin Valley region of California are generally 

 decreasing in numbers, and the area over which they occur in sufficient 

 abundance is rapidly narrowing, according to men who have observed 

 conditions for many years. This decline in numbers and range is 



