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NATURALIST'S GUIDE TO THE AMERICAS 



At present, administrators are in a 

 difficult position because of the lack of 

 definite ideas, policies, and public 

 sentiment to support definite programs, 

 and the frequent changes of officials 

 favor a lack of continuity in policies ; and 

 furthermore, with such a wobbling 

 policy little is learned from experience. 



EDUCATION OF PARK OFFICIALS 



At present parks suffer to a large 

 degree because they are necessarily 

 in the hands of administrators who, 

 because of their lack of special training, 

 we must consider as amateurs. We 

 have had no profession for this line 

 of work, and some who have had the 

 most training are feared to a correspond- 

 ing degree, because of preconceived, 

 formal ideals, which they with almost 

 religious zeal slip into the wilderness 

 parks. The ideal of a wilderness park 

 is beyond their ken, because their 

 approach has been from another 

 angle. These persons are welcomed 

 in formal city parks but in our large 

 National and State parks they are 

 liable to be a menace. In the training 

 of such men there has been no adequate 

 recognition of the wild life problems. 



Another source of difficulty is the 

 lack of trained rangers, and nature 

 guides in our parks. These men are 

 needed not only with a special famil- 

 iarity with a special subject matter, 

 but as well with the ideals of parks. 

 Until very recently we have had no 

 provision for such a training in our 

 educational system, and not until 

 adequate provision has been made 

 can we expect the detailed work in the 

 parks to be wholly satisfactory. A 

 whole technical staff is needed for our 

 parks, but this fact must be generally 

 appreciated before men will devote 

 themselves to it, and the public ap- 

 preciate it fully enough to provide for 

 it in the appropriations. 



NEED OF FORMULATING POLICIES 



At present our parks are in great need 

 of definitely formulated policies, even 



if they are of a provisional nature 

 (cf. Waugh, '18). A broad, general 

 policy is not enough; it should be com- 

 prehensive but as well, it should be 

 worked out in as much detail as is 

 possible, so that in time we will have 

 for our National Parks, a manual cor- 

 responding to the Use Book of the 

 Forest Service. Each State Park or 

 park administration should have a 

 similar policy, which should be pub- 

 lished and made a part of the educa- 

 tional data available to the public. 

 It will then be available for criticism 

 and improvement. Of course, as many 

 park executives are without adequate 

 help, are liable to political interference, 

 and their tenure short, they are fre- 

 quently liable to neglect the formula- 

 tion of these policies, and depend solely 

 upon the laws establishing these parks. 

 Without general policies we can not 

 expect detailed, well-worked-out plans 

 for wild life. Today we have no such 

 published program for the wild life of 

 our National Parks, not even for the 

 fish, which might be expected to pre- 

 cede that of other kinds of animals. 

 The attitude of the U. S. Fish Com- 

 mission, in the early days, had no con- 

 ception whatever of the Yellowstone 

 as a wilderness park, with the fish life 

 maintained as nature left it and for 

 this reason the Commission was favor- 

 able to stocking the waters with a 

 variety of exotic fish, and of stocking 

 the streams thoroughly above all falls 

 uninhabited by fish, and likewise the 

 isolated lakes. The idea that forests 

 with big game animals should be main- 

 tained as a wilderness, and that there 

 was an advantage in natural wild waters 

 was beyond their conception. The 

 attitude o the present U. S. Bureau of 

 Fisheries, and of the Park Service itself 

 has improved somewhat, but still it 

 has in the main adhered to the older 

 policies and standards of making 

 angling available everywhere, rather 

 than to maintaining a wild preserve. I 

 have no doubt that this has come about 

 or grown up without much deliberation, 

 and certainly not after considering the 



