THE AWAKENING OF NEW MEXICO AND 

 ARIZONA 



I. New Mexico. 



ALTHOUGH New Mexico has long been ranked as a good 

 game protecting State, so far as its laws and its State 

 Game Warden and warden force were concerned, up to 1915 

 her work in game protection had almost wholly devolved 

 upon her official protectors. The sportsmen and the stock- 

 growers of the state had not yet taken up their share of 

 the burden. The game then remaining was rapidly dimin- 

 ishing, through over-liberal game laws, overshooting, and 

 other causes. Those game conditions prevail today in many 

 other states, east as well as west. 



On October 12, 1915, the members of the Albuquerque 

 Game Protective Association were in a state of discourage- 

 ment. The membership was small, the treasury was empty, 

 and the outlook for the real perpetuation of game in New 

 Mexico seemed very gloomy. 



Into this situation came the U. S. Forest Service, and the 

 Permanent Wild Life Protection Fund. The former had 

 caused its field agent for wild life, Mr. Aldo Leopold, to 

 make a careful survey of the game situation in New Mex- 

 ico in order to ascertain what could be done by the Forest 

 Service for the betterment of conditions. Much valuable 

 information has been gathered and admirably set forth in 

 a special handbook prepared for the use of the men of the 

 Forest Service. 



On October 13, the presentation of our plan for many 

 game sanctuaries in national forests aroused new interest 

 in wild life and awakened hope for the future. We urged 



