Wildlife in the United States 



for them, subject as they are to changing policies and 

 political expediency, to equal the efficiency of the wild- 

 life service that can be extended to national forests by 

 the Federal Government under plans coordinating all 

 forest uses. 



Possibilities and Limitations 

 in Associating Wildlife 

 with Other Uses of Land 



Wildlife in a multiplicity of forms has a more or less 

 direct bearing upon land uses nearly everywhere. 

 Certain kinds may be highly beneficial, others neutral, 

 or some maj' seriously interfere with economic utiliza- 

 tion of lands. Crows, for example, are beneficial in 

 consuming grubs or cutworms that injure agricultural 

 crops, but they destroy many eggs of wild ducks, the 

 breeding of which constitutes a highly important form 

 of marshland utilization. And these differing crow 

 activities may be carried on over closely adjoining 

 lands. 



Competitors with Wildlife for Land: With the appear- 

 ance of the settlers, the clearing of the forests for farms 

 and town sites, the occupation of grasslands for agri- 

 cultural purposes, or the grazing of domestic stock, the 

 general aspect of much of the former domain of wildlife 

 was transformed. As the tide of civilization and gen- 

 eral land occupation moved westward across the con- 

 tinent the greater part of the plains animals either were 

 wiped out or resorted to the forests, which are the great 

 reservoirs of so much of our remaining upland game. 

 Though deplorable, the displacement of much of the 

 game was inevitable. The final passing of the buft'alo 

 on open ranges could not have been prevented, for great 

 herds of buft'alo have no place, as game, under modern 

 conditions. Inevitable also was the passing of most of 

 the antelope, originallj' more numerous perhaps than 

 the buft'alo. 



The intensive settlement of the vast prairie areas of 

 the Middle West and north into Canada, and the devel- 

 opment of one of the greatest grain-producing regions in 

 the world, led directly to the virtual elimination of 

 large sections of the best breeding ranges of our most 

 important waterfowl. The surface absorption of mois- 

 ture by the cultivation of land, and the deliberate drain- 

 age of so many of the originallj' innumerable ponds, 

 lakes, and marshes, have wiped out most of the local 

 waterfowl breeding grounds. Another serious result 

 has been the lowering of underground water levels, 

 shown in the failure of wells, the drying up of springs 

 that should feed streams, and the general desiccation of 

 the country. Meanwhile many of the lands drained 

 have proved to be of little agricultural value, and during 

 periods of drought wind erosion has strongly tended to 

 complete the picture of desolation. 



Restoration Measures Attempted: Efforts are now 

 being made to restore some of the 84,000,000 acres 

 that have been drained in the country as a whole; and 



144090 — 36 2 



yet drainage engineers may in many localities be con- 

 tinuing the destructive policy of the past. 



All drainage projects of the Reclamation Service 

 should be scrutinized with a view to determining their 

 effect upon the native wildlife and other water uses and 

 values, and these should be balanced against their 

 prospective value for the purposes already planned. 



Pressure on wildlife by human occupation of the land, 

 therefore, together with almost unrestricted killing by 

 hunters, inroads by predatory animals, and other inci- 

 dental factors, has led to the disappearance of game of 

 many kinds or to its reduction to comparatively small 

 numbers over most of its former range. In the Eastern 

 States the larger predatory animals virtually disap- 

 peared many years ago along with the larger game, but 

 the destruction of game by the mountain lions, wolves, 

 coyotes, and bobcats that still remain in the Western 

 States continues on a scale that is not generally realized. 

 The greatest predatorj"^ animal after all, however, is 

 man. Control must be exercised over the too indiscrim- 

 inate use of modern firearms by the increasing millions 

 of hunters, if a sufficient breeding stock of game is to be 

 maintained. This does not mean that hunting under 

 proper conditions should be discouraged, but rather 

 that its implications should be realized and that it 

 should be carried on and regulated as a game-crop 

 harvesting operation. 



Although the general outlook for forms of wildlife 

 hunted as game may seem discouraging, conservation 

 progress is being made and much imiy yet be done 

 through the properly coordinated use of land, not only 

 to save the remnants, but greatly to increase numbers 

 and restore game to vast sections from which it has been 

 eliminated. To deal intelligenth' with the problem 

 requires an appreciation of the requirements of the game 

 and of all the factors that maj' result in decreases or 

 increases in numbers of wildlife forms. With these 

 requirements clearly in mind wildlife values should be 

 measured against land values for other uses everywhere. 



Forest Wildlife: The fact that the forests are the great 

 reservoirs of most of our upland game leads logically to 

 a consideration of the relation of forestry to game con- 

 servation with a view to the best use of forest lands.* 

 Since the maximmn production of timber tends to con- 

 flict with the maximum production of game, the rela- 

 tive economic and social values and all the factors 

 involved should be carefully weighed in connection with 

 general forest numagement. Forest reproduction is so 

 unsatisfactory in many places, from the forester's stand- 

 point, that planting has to be resorted to. In such proj- 

 ects of forest restoration the probable trend in future 

 comparative values of timber and game should be antici- 

 pated as far as possible. These comparative values, 

 difficult to measure, will vary with manj' local condi- 

 tions. The rapid substitution of other more durable 



• See also contribution by the Forest Service on wildlife managemeDt on national 

 forests. (Sec. HI of part IX.) 



