Forests as a Wildlife Habitat 



565 



elevations, and pines in between. There 

 the stands were often bisected by fin- 

 gers of open grassland, meadows, or 

 brush fields; the native forest had ex- 

 tensive borders or edges, a condition 

 that is generally favorable to wildlife; 

 the volume of nuts and fruit was not 

 ordinarily high in the forest areas, but 

 the forage conditions frequently fa- 

 vored browsing and grazing animals. 



The forests on the Pacific coast, west 

 of the crest of the Cascade Mountains, 

 were of a closed conifer stand, which, 

 under the influence of favorable mois- 

 ture and growing conditions, were 

 characteristically dense and tall. The 

 ground was commonly in permanent 

 shade. Wildlife was more restricted 

 than in an open forest or a hardwood 

 stand, but those forests were outstand- 

 ing in the character of the fish life in 

 the streams and the rivers, which were 

 spawning grounds of the sea-run sal- 

 mon and trout. 



Thus, although the hardwood forest 

 undoubtedly was the home of a greater 

 variety and quantity of wildlife, all 

 forest areas were likely to support some 

 deer, bear, squirrels, beaver, and 

 wolves. Some variety of grouse was na- 

 tive to all areas, except the forests of 

 the Coastal Plain in the South and 

 Southeast. Elk ranged in nearly all 

 regions, except the South. Beaver were 

 present in nearly all forests. Turkey 

 were distributed from New England to 

 Colorado and Arizona. The bighorn 

 sheep lived in the mountains of the 

 Western States, mountain goat in the 

 country north of the Columbia and 

 Snake Rivers, and moose in the north 

 woods and northern Rocky Mountains. 



Beaver were most abundant where 

 suitable water was associated with fa- 

 vored food species, such as aspen, cot- 

 tonwood, and the willow. The turkey 

 range appeared to be adjusted to the 

 availability of mast acorns, chestnuts, 

 and pine nuts, particularly in winter. 

 Different species of grouse had de- 

 veloped rather specialized feeding 

 habits, and could winter on the buds 

 of conifers or hardwoods where it lived. 



Similar relationships could be cited 



for other species, and the food prefer- 

 ences of some predators, such as the 

 cougar or puma for deer, could be men- 

 tioned. Those examples are sufficient, 

 however, to illustrate the point that the 

 animals were distributed according to 

 a habitat pattern, in which their basic 

 needs for food and cover were met. 

 In that respect, the character of the 

 forest was paramount in determining 

 the kind of wildlife that would fit in 

 and how abundant it might become. 



SETTLEMENT AND HUNTING soon 

 changed the situation. In colonial and 

 pioneer communities, game laws were 

 commonly thought unnecessary; the 

 few that were passed were liberal and 

 seldom enforced. The feeling was gen- 

 eral that the people who settled an area 

 or owned land were entitled to unre- 

 stricted use of the wildlife resources, a 

 philosophy that prevailed in some sec- 

 tions of the country until a few years 

 ago and that was particularly char- 

 acteristic of forest communities. Fur- 

 ther, until the present generation, many 

 State fish and game departments were 

 so inadequately financed that they 

 could not maintain an adequate war- 

 den force, let alone investigate the 

 status of the wildlife resource. 



Under those circumstances, game 

 and fur animals suffered. A few species 

 were exterminated. Others disappeared 

 from large sections of their native 

 range, and only recently were reestab- 

 lished through programs of restocking. 

 In the East, the white-tailed deer had 

 mostly disappeared by 1910; the elk 

 were all gone by 1870. In many parts 

 of the West, elk were killed out. One 

 species, the Merriam elk of the South- 

 west, had been exterminated by 1898. 

 Beaver were so persistently trapped 

 that they were exterminated from large 

 areas of the Eastern States, and became 

 scarce in the Lake States and the 

 Rocky Mountains. The once abundant 

 passenger pigeon disappeared entirely. 



Forest animals that came into con- 

 flict with man often became the object 

 of eradication campaigns, which in- 

 cluded bounties and professional hunt- 



