GAME AS A NATIOK^AL RESOURCE. 31 



Salt Lake, Davis, and Box Elder Counties, but this project has not 

 thus far been carried out. 



GAME EEFUGES. 



The object of establishing game refuges in places where certain 

 birds and animals may receive protection throughout the year, is 

 to permit native species to increase under natural conditions and 

 thereby to restock surrounding territory. In recent years many ex- 

 periments have been made in establishing State game refuges, both 

 on public and on private lands. The State refuge of to-day is a com- 

 paratively modern institution. One of the oldest and best known 

 reservations is the Teton State Game Refuge in Wyoming, established 

 in 1905. Refuges differ widely in character, in area, and in the 

 methods by which they are administered. Some are on Federal lands, 

 some on State lands, and some on private lands, the private lands 

 being held under contract for the purpose of game protection and 

 being posted by the State. In size they range from a few acres to 

 reservations containing several hundred square miles. One of the 

 largest refuges in the United States is the Superior State Game 

 Refuge in Minnesota, comprising in -part Federal lands in the Su- 

 perior National Forest and in part adjacent State and private lands. 

 The States which have the largest aggregate areas devoted to game 

 refuges are California, Minnesota, and Wyoming; those which have 

 the greatest number of individual refuges are probably Michigan 

 and Pennsylvania. Michigan has 50 or more and Pennsylvania has 

 32 of a peculiar type already describecl.^^ The development of the 

 refuge policy in Pennsylvania is interesting. In 1905 the State game 

 commission received authority with the consent of the commissioner 

 of forestry to establish game preserves on State forest lands ; in 1907 

 the area of a reserve was limited to a tract 9 miles in circumference, 

 and in 1911 the size was increased, provided the greatest diameter did 

 not exceed 10 miles and the area was not greater than that of half the 

 forest reservation on which located. 



In most cases insufficient time has elapsed to determine the most 

 successful type of preserve or to learn the ultimate success of some 

 of the projects which have been suggested, but in Pennsylvania, 

 Wyoming, and Indiana data are now available showing actual ex- 

 perience with widely different types of preserves over a period of 

 several years. 



Wyoming was one of the pioneer States in the establishment of 

 State game refuges and now (1921) has 13, the combined areas of 

 which are perhaps not greater than the total area of State reserves 

 in California or Minnesota, yet individually each is of considerable 



^^ For a description of the Pennsylvania refuges, see Phillips, John M., Pennsylvania 

 game preserves : In the Open, vol. 3, pp. 41-44, November, 1912. 



