Other Federal Forests 



387 



which once covered so much of our 

 Nation. 



FEDERAL WILDLIFE REFUGES are 

 areas of Federal lands which have 

 been established from time to time as 

 game or general wildlife refuges and 

 sanctuaries under State or Federal laws 

 concerned with preservation of our na- 

 tive animal and bird life. The follow- 

 ing, however, relates only to the 3.4 

 million acres, more or less, of Federal 

 land over which the Fish and Wildlife 

 Service of the Department of the 

 Interior has sole jurisdiction and the 

 primary use of which is the perpetua- 

 tion of indigenous species of wildlife. 

 More specifically, most of the material 

 relates to the 797,000 acres of such land 

 that is forested. These wildlife refuges 

 have been acquired by the Fish and 

 Wildlife Service through direct pur- 

 chase of private lands, through transfer 

 of lands from other agencies of the 

 Federal Government, and through res- 

 ervation of public domain. 



In assembling its system of wildlife 

 refuges, the Fish and Wildlife Service 

 has followed the policy of acquiring 

 ecological units representative of broad 

 habitat types, primarily for manage- 

 ment to conserve and increase the 

 native wildlife, and, secondarily, to de- 

 termine practical methods of land use 

 compatible with sustaining optimum 

 wildlife populations. In acquisition of 

 waterfowl refuges, for example, neces- 

 sary buffer lands may include blocks 

 of forest which, of course, may also 

 fulfill certain needs of wildlife man- 

 agement. Occasionally, the forest it- 

 self is the vital element and lands are 

 acquired specifically therefor, as in the 

 case of the White River National Wild- 

 life Refuge in Arkansas, where mast 

 constitutes a principal food item of 

 waterfowl. Large areas of forest land 

 are also frequently desirable for up- 

 land game management. Thus the 

 federally owned wildlife refuges in- 

 clude substantial acreages of forest and 

 woodland types. 



These forest lands are rather widely 

 distributed and include a number of 



timber types northern and Appala- 

 chian mixed hardwoods, bottom-land 

 hardwoods in the Mississippi Valley, 

 spruce, balsam, fir, the southern pines, 

 oak, and some of the western pines. 

 About 502,000 acres are currently con- 

 sidered as commercial forest land. The 

 remaining 295,000 acres are either 

 noncommercial in character or are set 

 aside from commercial use because of 

 special wildlife-management require- 

 ments, in compliance with policies on 

 natural areas, or for recreational pur- 

 poses. Included in the forested areas 

 are some old-growth timber and some 

 fully stocked stands of second growth. 

 Generally, however, the timber stands 

 tend to be understocked (because of 

 heavy cutting before they were ac- 

 quired by the United States) and con- 

 sist largely of young growth. 



The forest lands are administered 

 primarily for restoration and conserva- 

 tion of wildlife or to test or demonstrate 

 practical methods of game manage- 

 ment. To the full extent consistent 

 with these basic objectives, however, 

 the Fish and Wildlife Service endeav- 

 ors to manage the timberlands under 

 sound forestry principles. A substantial 

 part of the estimated 502,000 acres of 

 commercial forest lands are under in- 

 tensive forestry management. Forestry 

 practices must necessarily be corre- 

 lated with the requirements of the 

 animals, birds, or waterfowl which 

 populate the refuges. To this end, se- 

 lective cutting on a relatively short 

 cutting rotation is practiced in most 

 instances, frequently on a group-selec- 

 tion or small-area basis to create open- 

 ings. Specific needs of wildlife, such as 

 den trees or shrubs and trees important 

 for food production, must be taken into 

 consideration and provided for as far 

 as is possible. Policies also call for 

 maintenance of buffer strips of timber 

 along the principal roads, lakes, and 

 streams and other places where esthetic 

 values are dominant. The forest-man- 

 agement program is under the super- 

 vision of trained foresters and the field 

 activities relative to the administration 

 and sale of timber are handled by per- 



