Description 21 



terspersed, but not here differentiated. The northern parts of the forest type 

 were originally moose and caribou country, but as a result of the northward shift 

 experienced by all species consequent to settlement, the whole type is now deer 

 and ruffed grouse country, while prairie chickens have successfully invaded the 

 larger cleared and burned areas. 



Hill Belt. Bordering the Agricultural Belt on the south is an unglaciated 

 hill country which Sauer, in Missouri, has called "the Ozark border." The breaks 

 of the Ohio in Illinois and Indiana are substantially similar likewise the hill 

 country of southeast Ohio, except where underlain by shale. The shale hills are 

 inferior, as game country, to the limestones which prevail elsewhere in this type. 

 The hill type has from 25 to 75 per cent of its area in farms, but the percentage 

 is decreasing. The prevailing timber is hardwood, but the northerly outposts of 

 shortleaf pine and scrub p-'.it appear on its southerly edge. The streams are clear 

 and spring-fed. There vr. no swamps. Turkey and deer were the original game. 

 Quail and (in Missour) cu..<ey are the present species of outstanding value. The 

 exotic birds do not thrive. Swamp rabbits occur on the south-flowing streams. 



The main Ozarks resemble the hill type, but their rougher topography and 

 poorer soils reduce the percentage of farms, and make turkey and deer, rather 

 than quail, the outstanding game species. The numerous streams are spring-fed 

 and clear, and now contain bass or trout. Words do not describe them. They 

 must be seen to be appreciated. 



Both the Ozarks and the hill type are frequently burned over, and always 

 have been. In fact, parts of the western border were originally reduced by fire 

 to a park-like intermixture of scattered timber and grass, so open that some called 

 it "prairie." 



Lowland Belt. Southeast Missouri includes the northerly projection of 

 those black gumbo bottoms which characterize the lower Mississippi. Cypress 

 trees, cotton, canebreaks, and winter mallards proclaim this area as belonging to the 

 southern, not the north-central, gamelands. 



Although this north-central region reaches from caribou to cottonfields, we 

 have throughout the bulk of the area an essential unity of rich soils, ample rain- 

 fall, game-killing winters, and food-bearing vegetation. No single county has left 

 less than one native resident game species of high sporting and aesthetic value, 

 while many counties have as high as five, in addition to a wealth of migratory 

 game. Transecting the region we have a belt of intensive agriculture dotted with 

 industrial cities, which fades out northward and southward to near-wilderness. 

 In short, the region presents the whole gamut of possible opportunities for creating 

 an orderly adjustment between "men who love sport" and the wild life resources 

 which produce it; men who insist on conserving "Outdoor America" but at the 

 same time insist on expanding an already unprecedented population growth and 

 economic prosperity. Can they do both? Can wild game be produced in a 

 motorized and moneyed democracy? Here, if anywhere, is the place to seek the 

 answer. 



