520 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMEKICAN FORESTRY 



Federal, State, and local governments, but the complete coordination 

 of activities of these agencies in a general program of fishery manage- 

 ment is yet to be attained. That Congress is aware of the necessity 

 for unified action in the interest of wild-life conservation from a 

 national point of view is evident from numerous reports upon the 

 subject and from certain pending legislation. 



Functions of the various national agencies and their responsibility 

 in the whole field of wild-life conservation have already been dis- 

 cussed in Senate Report No. 1329 mentioned elsewhere. In this 

 report the Senate Committee on Conservation of Wild-Life Resources 

 expresses the conviction that the major part of a successful conserva- 

 tion program in the preservation and replacement of wild life belongs 

 to the various States, but that without active participation and the 

 leadership of the Federal Government the work will fail. The Com- 

 mittee also expresses the view that the Park Service and the Forest 

 Service are the two major Federal Bureaus principally responsible for 

 the preservation and replacement of wild life by reason of the control 

 which they exercise over great areas of the publicly owned land. These 

 two organizations, however, and especially the latter, are concerned 

 with major problems in their own fields frequently of great technical 

 complexity, and they must of necessity depend upon the expert advice 

 and assistance of two other Federal bureaus: for the development of 

 a program of game management, Bureau of Biological Survey; and 

 for fishery management, the Bureau of Fisheries. In an effort 

 more clearly to define and coordinate the functions of these Bureaus, 

 the bill entitled "An act to promote the conservation of wild life, 

 fish and game, and other purposes" (S. 263, 72d Cong.), passed by 

 the Senate December 17, 1931, and now pending before the House of 

 Representatives, provides that the Secretary of Agriculture and the 

 Secretary of Commerce be authorized to provide expert assistance to 

 Federal, State, and other agencies in rearing, stocking, and increasing 

 the supply of game and fur-bearing animals and fish; in combating 

 disease and in developing a Nation-wide program of wild-life conserva- 

 tion and rehabilitation, and to cooperate with such agencies to that 

 end. 



Another bill entitled "An act to provide consideration of wild- 

 life conservation in the construction of public works or improve- 

 ment of projects" (S. 5813, 71st Cong.), passed by the Senate Jan- 

 uary 26, 1931, requires consideration of the effect of the construction 

 of any public works or improvements upon the replacement and 

 conservation of wild life and requires the Bureau of Fisheries or 

 any other agencies of the Government, whose activities are con- 

 cerned with conservation, to advise and confer with the construc- 

 tion agency with a view to determining the most appropriate methods 

 for carrying out such construction with the least injury to wild life. 



In discussing the functions of the various Government agencies, 

 the Senate Wild Life Committee in Report No. 1329 summarizes 

 the work of the Bureau of Fisheries in connection with the conserva- 

 tion of fishery resources in the following words : 



This is the predominating agency for the collection and dissemination of 

 scientific and practical information concerning this resource. The coopera- 

 tion of other Federal agencies whose projects or operations are such as to affect 

 fish life or to require administration of it by the agencies concerned should be 

 obligatory. Federal agencies in charge of drainage projects or other projects 

 influencing water levels, erosion, or water pollution, should be required to advise 



