REPORT OF THE FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 147 



REPORT OF FRESNO DISTRICT OFFICE. 



The Honorable Board of Fish and Game Commissioners. 



Gentlemen : The year 1915 witnessed little change in general condi- 

 tions with regard to fish and game in the Fresno Division. The policy 

 of the office continued to be along the same lines as in previous years. 

 The office was a central point from which the activities of the deputies 

 were directed and at the same time it was recognized by the public as a 

 friendly cooperative agency alike for the diffusion of information 

 regarding fish and game laws and the aims and ideals of the Fish and 

 Game Commission as well as a receiving point for information from the 

 public on all subjects pertaining to the betterment of conditions with 

 regard to fish and game law enforcement. The active cooperation and 

 confidence of the public throughout the nine counties of the Fresno 

 Division has been the best justification for the establishment of the 

 Fresno office in the first instance. 



In the winter months of 1914-15 a determined effort was made to 

 correct conditions existing around the westerly and southerly boun- 

 daries of Yosemite National Park. Many deer in previous years have 

 been slaughtered at the time when the snows drive the deer from the 

 protected area of this National Park. By hard and patient work the 

 Fresno office had finally reduced to a minimum, offenses against the deer 

 law in the counties of Kern, Tulare, Fresno and Madera. In former 

 years, large numbers of deer were slaughtered when in a comparatively 

 helpless state in the foothill and lower mountain region. Naturally, the 

 most important feature of protective work for the deer was in securing 

 the cooperation of the mountain people. Although at first antagonistic 

 because the mountaineers had always made a practice of killing deer 

 for the meat, when needed, a condition was brought about gradually 

 whereby in the mountains mentioned the Fish and Game Commission 

 had the almost unanimous support of all the mountain people. The 

 only remaining section of the Fresno Division where the enforcement 

 of the deer law and the sentiment therefor was not general, was that 

 section of the mountains lying as described, just outside of Yosemite 

 National Park. Three picked deputies were sent into the region and 

 remained there throughout the winter months. From all evidence that 

 can be gathered there were practically no deer killed in that section 

 during the past winter. However, the work of the deputies must be 

 followed up for several successive seasons in order to make these 

 improved conditions effective and enduring. 



The fish planting operations in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of the 

 Fresno Division have been consistently carried forward and in 1914 

 the pack horse distribution work reached its climax of magnitude. This 

 work of stocking the barren streams of a vast region with desirable 



