ISO OUR FEDERAL LANDS 



Conserving wild animals is an expert problem. 

 Everywhere, nature's balance of life has been de- 

 stroyed these many years. Even in National Parks 

 the relentless killing of wolves, mountain lions and 

 other predatory beasts has disturbed the natural 

 balance. But in the National Forests game preserva- 

 tion is entirely a humanized problem. There, forest 

 fires which devastate enormous areas, the crowding 

 of the forest-borders by farms, the destruction of 

 animals which prey upon domestic stock, hunting, 

 and the competition for forest forage of millions 

 of sheep and cattle, have reduced wild animal con- 

 servation to purely an artificial and scientific proc- 

 ess, requiring constant observation and study. 



Under these conditions, to leave the distorted 

 problem to crippled nature is, in many instances, to 

 invite starvation. Relentlessly, under all conditions, 

 nature will accomplish her objects, even, if inter- 

 fered with, at occasional frightful sacrifice of animal 

 life. Under National Forest conditions, there is much 

 in common between grazing cattle and sheep for the 

 market and conserving deer and elk for sport and 

 the neighborhood table. Both are administrative 

 problems closely related to farming, in which a third 

 consideration, the health and perpetuation of the 

 range, is importantly concerned; for it is mad ex- 

 travagance to sacrifice the grazing of the future to 

 the greater present production of beef, mutton and 

 venison. Though a minor function of the National 



