106 MAN ON THE LANDSCAPE 



superiority. Then, in scientific triumph, may it not be possible in 

 many areas to take naturally second rate land and manipulate it and 

 augment it and change it into superior land. Much progress has been 

 made in achieving this goal of a new and better climax complex. And 

 when it has been reached beyond doubt, cheers will be in order. 



What About Animals? The animal population of a region (from 

 the microscopic to the mammouth) not only is interwoven into the 

 life web, but is of great significance to man in ways economic, recrea- 

 tional, and aesthetic. The larger animal forms are the subject of 

 much legal attention. If laws and regulations affecting wildlife are 

 written with the scientist's counsel and approval they should become 

 progressively more effective. 



No law, however, can change the fact that as man alters the pat- 

 tern of plant communities, by farming or lumbering for instance, the 

 pattern of animal life must also change. Cattle have been substituted 

 for deer in the woodlot and for bison on the plains. Where once the 

 raccoon rambled through the woods, rabbits now run along the fence- 

 rows. Where once the woodcock darted among the trees, the quail 

 roars up from the meadow. Where once the prairie chicken or the 

 now extinct heath hen nested, the imported pheasant has taken over. 

 Man has killed off to a large degree the puma, wolf, coyote and lynx ; 

 and, as hunter, has taken over their predatory activities on wildlife. 

 Such predation is in accord with the natural organization of the land- 

 scape. 



The conclusion of wildlife researchers is that the population of 

 animals is directly proportionate to food, cover and water ; and that 

 the size and quality of the animals is directly related to soil fertility. 

 Climax conditions are necessary to the maximum of animal popu- 

 lation and quality. An eroded field, infertile, unable to hold rain- 

 fall, populated with woody plants of little nutritional value, cannot 

 possibly support an abundance of animal life, whether it be insects, 

 birds, or man. 



The Goal of Management. The maintenance or creation of the 

 values and conditions associated with the richer climax formations 

 that is the goal of environmental engineering. Through it the 

 maximum energy flow of life can be made available to man and his 

 social order. Through such engineering is conserved the constant 

 and adequate supplies of proteins, fats, minerals, and vitamins 

 without which carbohydrate energy is worthless. 



Environmental engineering can maintain that essential state of 

 balance in which the demands of plants and animals seldom exceed 

 and certainly never exhaust the supply of air, water, and soil fer- 

 tility. 



By such engineering the energy and substance of the environ- 

 ment can be made more effective and efficient in the service of man 

 than the natural climax itself. This may be done by channeling the 

 energy and substance through species selected by man as most use- 

 ful to him. It is entirely possible to create today, on many areas, 

 fertility surpassing that set up by nature, 



