NATURAL AREAS AND REGIONS 



531 



here find a refuge. Loch Katrine Bird 

 Reservation, located in the same county 

 with a similar purpose. The Path- 

 finder Bird Reservation, located in 

 Natrona and Carbon Counties, along 

 the North Platte River above the 

 Pathfinder dam. This is also a refuge 

 for water birds. 



IV. POLLUTION 



The mountain streams and in fact, 

 nearly all streams in their upper courses 

 are still unpolluted. In their lower 

 courses, nearly all streams are more or 

 less polluted by sewage from towns, 

 waste from factories or refineries, or by 

 unsanitary conditions of farmyards 

 and ranches on their banks. Water 

 in the desert, arid interior is frequently 

 alkaline and unfit for use. 



V. NATURAL AREAS 



Wyoming State Preserves. There are 

 twelve State game preserves, and two 

 hot springs preserves in the State of 

 Wyoming. The State game preserves 

 embrace a total of about 6,900,000 acres. 

 The game laws provide that the open 

 season allowed for certain game animals 

 and game birds does not apply within 

 the limits of these game preserves. 

 The game animals receiving this pro- 

 tection include elk, deer, bighorn sheep, 

 Rocky Mountain goats, pronghorn ante- 

 lope and moose. Elk are also protected 

 outside of the game preserves in Fremont 

 County; this area includes all of Fremont 

 County north of Wind River; the region 

 of the Wind River Mountains between 

 Popo Agie and Bridger State game 

 preserves; and all of Fremont County 

 south of Sweetwater R. and east of Big 

 Sandy Creek. The birds specifically 

 protected include four families, Gal- 

 linae, Anatidae, Limicolae and Rallidae 

 (grouse, sage-chickens, ducks, geese, 

 plover, snipe, and coots). The Montane 

 Belt in whicji a large portion of these 

 preserves is located, is quite uniformly 

 characterized by forests of spruce, fir, 

 lodgepole pine and aspen as well as by 



a large variety of lower shrubs and 

 plants. 



The hot springs preserves are set aside 

 for the treatment and care of disease, 

 for sanitary, recreational and other 

 purposes. Both have points of remark- 

 able interest, but the group of springs 

 at Thermopolis is the larger and more 

 widely known. 



Several additional large areas and 

 numerous small ones should be set 

 aside as State preserves. For example: 



(1) All of the region drained by the 

 John Day River lying between the 

 crests of the Salt River Range and the 

 Wyoming Range; all lying within the 

 Wyoming National Forest. It is said 

 that no wheeled vehicle has ever trav- 

 elled over most of this region. 



(2) All of the Wind River Range in- 

 cluded in what is now "elk protected 

 territory." Besides including the high- 

 est mountains in Wyoming and the 

 headwaters of Green River, it embraces 

 a number of large lakes on the western 

 slope of this range. Lies within the 

 Bridger National Forest. (See page 

 237.) 



(3) All of Sweetwater County lying 

 north of the 5th Standard Parallel 

 North and west of 109 W. Longitude. 

 This area includes the continental 

 divide, the Great Divide Basin, and a 

 part of the Red Desert; here is to be 

 found probably the most barren part 

 of Wyoming. 



(4) All of Medicine Bow National 

 Forest in Wyoming, lying east of Range 

 81 West. Deer, grouse, ptarmigan. 



(5) Many other small regions in- 

 cluding desert; lakes suitable for migra- 

 tory birds, mountains, etc., too numer- 

 ous to mention. 



References: 

 Gary, M. Life Zones of Wyoming. 



Bu. of Biol. Survey, North American 



Fauna No. 42, 1917. 

 Grave, B. H., and Walker, E. P. 



Wyoming Birds. University of 



Wyoming Bulletin, Vol. 12, No. 6, 



1913. 



