698 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



THE VALLEY RANCH. 



THIS IS ON THE PECOS NATIONAL FOREST, NOT FAR FROM SANTA FE, NEW MEXICO. THE PECOS RIVER FLOWS AT THE 

 FOOT OF THE BLUFFS IN THE BACKGROUND AND IS A NOTED TROUT STREAM. DEER AND OTHER 



GAME ABOUND IN THIS REGION. 



of the national forests makes for bet- 

 ter citizenship and deserves encourage- 

 ment. 



Relaxation within a forest if only 

 during a very brief period inevitably 

 awakens man's primitive instincts of 

 the chase no matter how dormant they 

 may have been. But the big game has 

 almost passed away; the pitiful rem- 

 nant is rigidly protected by laws strict- 

 ly enforced, and the fall and winter 

 are the only times to hunt. The sum- 

 mer camper therefore, who wishes to 

 give a demonstration of reversion to 

 type has only one outlet for his ener- 

 gies, one way in which to display his 

 skill in woodcraft; that way is to fish; 

 to whip the roaring mountain torrents 

 for trout, or to troll in the more slowly 

 moving streams for bass, to be reward- 

 ed perhaps by suckers, or whitefish, or 

 even an humble and not wholly attrac- 

 tive juajolote. 



But aside from the question of 

 healthful sport there is another consid- 

 eration and that is the economic value 

 of the waters within the forests for pur- 

 poses of food production. The forests 

 contain thousands of bodies of water 



ranging from tiny blue alpine lakes nest- 

 ling under the highest peaks to rivers 

 carrying the waters of a hundred good- 

 sized tributaries. Properly planted and 

 protected these waters will support 

 numbers of fish so enormous that they 

 will occupy an important place in the 

 national diet. In many parts of the 

 west private fish hatcheries and ponds 

 are now being operated on a commer- 

 cial basis and it is certain that the pro- 

 duction of fish under controlled condi- 

 tions will some day be an important in- 

 dustry. 



The number of persons who annual- 

 ly visit the national forests to fish is 

 difficult even of approximation, but it 

 runs into the hundreds of thousands. 

 In Colorado alone 10,000 people, it is 

 estimated, went fishing on the opening 

 day of the season of 1913. Prob- 

 ably more than half of this number 

 spent the day within the National For- 

 ests. Each year sees an increase in the 

 number of campers and fishermen and 

 it may safely be predicted that within a 

 few years over one million people will 

 visit the forests each year. 



