A PROPOSED OEEGON 



Nevada Natural Wild Life Refuge, With Particu- 

 lar Reference to Proxg-horx Axtelope axd 

 Sage Grouse. Species Fouxd Nowhere 

 Else ix the World and Now Threat- 

 ened With Extinction.* 



By 



Dr. Geo. AY. Field 



U. S. Biological Survey. 



I left Burns, Oregon, in motor ear at noon, Sep- 

 tember 17, 1919, in company witli Mr. M. S. Garretson, 

 Secretary of the American Bison Society, delegated ])y 

 that Society to secure information relative to antelope 

 and sage grouse. We stopped that night at " P " Ranch 

 Station going by way of Narrows, Oregon. [We in- 

 tended to stop en route at the Malheur Lake Bird 

 Reservation, but on account of the bad condition of the 

 roads decided to push on.] We followed in the Blitzen 

 Valley the course of the Blitzen Rivei', which is one of 

 the chief sources of water for the Melheur Lake Bird 

 Reservation. A larger number of lairds resort to this 

 reservation for nesting and during migration than to 

 any similar area in the United States. It is reported 

 that most of the Blitzen Valley and the ranches 

 formerly owned Ijv the Blitzen Valley Livestock Com- 

 pany have been acquired by Swift & Company under 

 the name of the Eastern Oregon Land Company. 

 Drainage operations are in active progress and it is 

 reported that they intend to divide the land for sale. 

 The peat in the swamp was still Inirning. This was 

 formerly a breeding resort for large num]:)ers of Canada 

 geese, ducks, sandhill cranes and the long-billed curlew. 

 Hogs are now being ])astured in the tules. The result 

 has been disastrous for the l)irds. 



* A report made to Mr. E. W. Nelson, Chief Biological Survey, upon 

 the Condition of the Prong-horn Autelope and the Sage Grouse in Lake 

 County, Oregon, with Recommendations for a National Oregon-Nevada 

 Wild Life Reservation. 



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