fowling piece and slender shot pouch. Game meant 

 much in those days. So did powder and lead. And 

 the bird or beast shot to feed the settler's family a 

 hundred miles beyond the steamboat or the train 

 served a noble purpose. With that thought let us 

 bid farewell to the passenger pigeon now absolutely 

 extinct; to the buffalo, the elk and the swan no 

 longer wild residents of the state. With the same 

 thought let us all the more cherish the birds and 

 mammals which remain. Some of these are almost 

 gone, but it is quite possible, and good business as 

 well, to bring them back to something like their 

 former abundance. 



One of the fundamentals in conserving and pro- 

 pagating game is that of providing adequate cover 

 and suitable range. Our big game and most of our 

 small game depend upon the forest for their pro- 

 tection and their food. It is fortunate therefore that 

 the people of Minnesota are becoming more and more 

 alive to the necessity of forest conservation and have 

 made considerable progress in it the last ten years. 

 Systematic, though as yet inadequate, patrol of the 

 forest regions has reduced the number of serious 

 fires to less than half of what otherwise would have 

 occurred. The enforcement of slash disposal by log- 

 gers, and of patrol by railroads in the timber country, 

 the construction of trails, portages, lookouts, strat- 

 egic telephone lines and fire breaks, the enlisting of 

 volunteer forces under the rangers, the enforcement 

 of forest laws and particularly a closed fire season 

 law. the setting aside of large areas for state forests 

 and giving them extra protection; the putting into 



13 



