3 26 



THE FORESTER. 



June, 



down mud, sand and debris, covering 

 the spawning ground and the eggs which 

 are on them, suffocating them and the 

 young fish, or perhaps even floating eggs 

 and fry out of the stream, and, when the 

 water recedes, leaving them high and 

 dry on the bank to perish. Besides this, 

 freshets wash away and cover up food 

 and the sources of food supply, so that 

 the stream cannot support so great a 

 number of fish. Trees and shrubs keep 

 the water cool by their shade and fur- 

 nish a resting place and cover for food 

 for the fish, so that it will nearly always 

 be found that shaded brooks or those 

 running in part through woodland offer 

 to the angler better results than those 

 which flow through open meadows or 

 plains. 



In ponds and small lakes, in which 

 the water supply has been diminished, 

 the shallow water freezing nearly to the 

 bottom gives less freedom to the fish, 

 diminishes the air space for each, and is 

 likely to cause wholesale destruction. 

 Such diminished water supply, of course, 

 means a lessened area to the lake or 

 pond, which again means a less number 

 of fish. In like manner the reduced 

 shore line of the pond of lessened area 

 gives less feeding ground for the fish, 

 and so less food. 



It is in the game fish that the angler 

 is especially interested, and it is for their 

 protection that he chiefly cares. They 

 live in fresh-water streams, and push 

 their way as fast as possible toward the 

 heads of those streams, into the depths 

 of the woods or high up on the mountain 

 side, striving always to reach those 

 sources where the water, cooled and 

 purified by the influence of the forest, 



is at its best. To preserve the best sort 

 of fish, therefore, we must preserve the 

 forests, and each angler should do his. 

 part to strengthen the public sentiment 

 in favor of this work. If the past few 

 years have seen an extraordinary growth, 

 of this sentiment, it is hoped that those 

 to follow will see one still greater. 



So far as the water and its inhabitants 

 are concerned, the forest acts as a great 

 governor or regulator. As it cools the 

 summer stream, so it warms the same 

 stream in winter ; as it prevents bank- 

 bursting freshets which may cause incal- 

 culable harm, so in time of drought it 

 supplies from its secret sources an 

 equable, unfailing flow which gives life 

 to the fish and to all things that live in 

 the water and along the river's bank. 

 And since the forests regulate the water 

 supply and its temperature and purify 

 it, it may fairly be said that those who 

 care for the forests care also for the fislx 

 in the stream, and that when they pre- 

 serve the forests they preserve also the 

 game fish. 



The summer traveler who journeys 

 along the sun-baked, treeless slopes of 

 the southern Rocky Mountains or the 

 Sierras comes now and then upon a dry 

 watercourse in which, if he follows it up. 

 and down, he will sometimes see a pool 

 standing in which trout are moving, 

 sluggishly here and there waiting for the 

 passage of the week's drought which 

 shall destroy them. Further to the 

 north, in the same chain of mountains,, 

 where man or man's fire has not swept 

 away all the timber, this is not seen. 

 There the streams are ever-flowing and 

 the fish are active and full of life. 



Geo. Bird Grinnell. 



