SECTION I 

 REQUIREMENTS FOR WILDLIFE AREAS* 



Economic Importance of Wildlife 



Wildlife is as essentially a product of land (or land 

 and water) as is timber, agricultural crops, or domestic 

 livestock. A multitude of kinds, bearing importantly 

 upon human welfare, are especially adapted to various 

 kinds of habitat, from dense forest and open range to 

 cultivated fields, water, and marsh. It follows, there- 

 fore, that wildlife cannot be ignored in any compre- 

 hensive, well-considered plan for land utilization. 

 Mammals, birds, fishes, and other wild vertebrates con- 

 stitute a major national resource that is becoming more 

 generally appreciated, as evidenced by increasing 

 interest in every phase of nature study. 



Many of the various forms, fur bearers and fishes 

 especially, are of direct economic value. An example 

 is the income derived from the sale of hunting, trapping, 

 and fishing licenses; the furs of course have a great 

 commercial value also, and in some cases the meat 

 supphes a highly prized form of food. That the meat 

 and fur value of wild mammals and birds is considerable 

 is indicated by an estimated total for 1 year of more 

 than $190,000,000 for the whole country. Capitahzed 

 on a low-percentage basis the total value of wildlife 

 would far exceed $1,000,000,000. Other economic 

 values are receipts from the sale of hunting and fishing 

 equipment, including guns, ammunition, fishing tackle, 

 and clothing, expenditures of sportsmen for transporta- 

 tion, board, hire of guides, and for hunting and fishing 

 privileges on private lands. To the foregoing may be 

 added the output of the fur trade, including the fur 

 manufacturing industry, the annual expenditures for 

 the maintenance of the numerous and widely distributed 

 hunting and fishing clubs; also the general expenses of 

 tourists and others attracted primarily by an abundance 

 of wildlife. It is these various wildlife values that go to 

 make up the estimated grand total of at least $1,000,- 

 000,000 annually. 



Last but not least should be mentioned the incal- 

 culable value of wildlife, chiefly birds, as destroyers of 

 the insects that prey on agricultural crops and forest 

 trees. 



Social and Recreational 

 Importance 



The social values also, including the recreational and 

 educational advantages arising from an abundance of 

 wildlife in general, are more intangible and therefore 

 more difficult to appraise than the economic values, but 

 thev arc none the less real. 



* Contributed by the Bureau of Biological Survey. 



In Europe from time immemorial hunting has been 

 a sport restricted mainly to the nobility or the wealthy 

 classes, who usually assume direct owTiership of all 

 game ranging on their large estates. In America, on 

 the other hand, the traditional concept is that owner- 

 ship of most game, whether on privately owned or 

 public land, is vested in the State or the Federal Gov- 

 ernment, and that hunting, subject to restrictive laws 

 and regulations, including those in regard to trespass, 

 is for all who wish to indulge in it. The relative free- 

 dom of the American system is due to the fact that for 

 the early settlers the pursuit and killing of game and 

 fur bearers was a vital necessity in providing meat for 

 food and furs for clothing. The skilled hunter became 

 an expert marksman who defended his home and gave 

 an excellent account of himself in early military cam- 

 paigns. The role of the hunter, important first in 

 gaining a livelihood, led naturallj^ through successive 

 generations to the development of a love of the chase 

 as sport. The joy of the chase provides wholesome 

 recreation of a kind that can be obtained in no other 

 way, and one that perhaps only a hunter can fully 

 appreciate. The many difi'erent kinds of hunting for 

 large and small game and the several kinds of fishing 

 afford the variety adapted to the need and inclination 

 of the various classes of our growing population. The 

 pursuit of large game, especially, which often requires 

 persistent effort as well as skill, tends to bring out 

 quaUties contributing to the virility of the race. 



A considerable number to whom the taking of animal 

 life is repugnant, satisfy a natural urge for contact 

 wath primitive nature by stalking wildlife to obtain 

 photographs at short range, or to make detailed studies 

 of the life habits of the several species. 



A report of the Senate Committee on Conservation 

 of Wildhfe Resources (S. Kept. 1329, 71st Cong.), 

 estimates that there was during the decade ending in 

 1930 a 400-percent increase in the number of people 

 who enjoy the pastimes of hunting and fishing. It 

 estimates the number of licensed hunters in the United 

 States in 1929 at 7,000,000 and the total of all hunters 

 and fishermen at probably 13,000,000. The current 

 trend toward shorter hours and fewer working days 

 should add tremendoush- to the number of men who 

 seek such out-door recreation. 



Hunting and fishing as a sport attract men to the 

 forest and mountains, the lakes, and the streams, 

 where for a brief period they may escape the artificial 

 life to which by modern conditions most are confined. 



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