DEPLETION OF WILD LIFE 325 



not mean return to a balance of life, but adjustments 

 almost wholly artificial and scientific. 



The story of the Yellowstone elk, including 

 slaughters, catastrophes, and national campaigns to 

 relieve starvation, needs a volume of its own. At 

 this writing, through co-operation brought about by 

 the National Conference on Outdoor Recreation, 

 solution waits only upon public acceptance of the 

 principle that both herds must be held numerically 

 within their winter food supply. To augment that, 

 hay ranches are planned to be acquired on rather a 

 large scale. 



It may be that Yellowstone's bison herds as 

 well as elk herds must be reduced at times by the of- 

 ficial rifle. A far cry, this, from Nature's method 

 of creating balances, though one, it must be admit- 

 ted, at times more humane. 



Demand for the absolute primitive has resulted 

 in setting apart, in 1926, a large area in the fast- 

 nesses of Yosemite National Park to be open only 

 to scientists and students. Few have ever even en- 

 tered this area. There are extremely large areas 

 similar to this in Yellowstone possessing nearly a 

 primitive quota of creatures of the wild, which 

 doubtless will also be set apart for study purposes 

 only. Glacier National Park west of the divide also 

 escaped the Great Slaughter to some extent and may 

 be regarded as nearer primitive in animal as well as 

 plant survival than most National Park wilder- 

 nesses. Mount McKinley National Park may safely 



