616 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



Jn sound game manag;enient : it provides a flexible method 

 of administration, and it succeeds in preserving the 

 breeding stock. But it fails in the third requirement of 

 providing the breeding ground and the range. Until 

 steps are taken to preserve swamps and lakes as breed- 

 ing and feeding grounds, migratory waterfowl are not 

 safe. Here again, public ownership is necessary; and 

 this ownership the public shooting ground bill now before 

 Congress aims to assure. 



The recently adopted State game law of New Mexico 

 is another example of modern legislation. It secures 

 a flexible administration by creating a game commission 

 endowed with broad regulatory powers. It assures the 



A THREATENED SPORT 



Where will the sons of these duck-hunters find their hunting? 

 This question the Public Shooting Ground-Game Refuge Bill 

 is trying to solve by authorizing the Government to 'buy breed- 

 ing and shooting grounds now threatened with extinction by 

 drainage. 



preservation of the breeding-stock by authorizing the 

 commission to establish refuges, local closed seasons, 

 and feeding grounds. It permits the purchase or leas- 

 ing of refuges and public shooting grounds. In addition, 

 the best game ranges of New Mexico are within the Na- 

 tional Forests, in which State game refuges may be es- 

 tablished by the Commission. This law, therefore, com- 



HIGH NESTING GROUNDS 



The ptarmigan nests on the higher peaks of thhe Rocky Moun- 

 tains as far south as New Mexico. The wild game of the United 

 States ranges from these .Arctic birds to such semi-tropical ani- 

 mals as the peccary and the jaguar a marvelous varied heritage 

 of which we are merely the trustees. 



prehensively attacks the three great problems of game 

 production: the land, the stock and the administration. 



The big game ranges of the West are chiefly within the 

 National Forests. Year after year legislation has been 

 attempted that would authorize the President to create 

 game refuges in the National Forests, but without suc- 

 cess. Yet the National Forest game refuge is highly im- 

 portant for the protection of big game. 



The next great legislative problem will be in the in- 

 dividual states, to modernize obsolete laws and to vitalize 

 impotent state game departments by giving them power. 

 The future of game in America depends on the degree 

 to which the underlying principles of game management 

 are clarified and put into effect. Foresters, because they 

 are trained in the exact regulation of a great organic re- 

 source, are peculiarly fitted to clarify the principles of 

 game regulation ; and this peculiar advantage places on 

 them a moral duty to take an active part in perpetuating 

 our diminishing wild life. 



AN UNWRITTEN TOMBSTONE 



This is the spot, 



Where once there stood, 



A stand of pine. 



Both straight and good, 



A stand that smiled, 



Then laughed out loud. 



And brightened the world. 



Every time it bowed. 



This is the spot. 

 Where once there stood, 

 A careless man, 

 Camped out in the wood, 

 Who threw a match. 

 That burnt the pine, 

 That flooded the world, 

 With its bright sunshine. 



Otto L. Anderson. 



