BULLETIN NUMBER TWO 



45 



meat of elk and deer killed. This law 

 brings into the communities of the game 

 regions large amounts of meat each 

 year. In one year the meat brought out 

 of the woods at Cody alone, and valued 

 at a nominal sum per pound, reached a 

 sum greater than that derived from the 

 sale of all game licenses for the year. 



Replanting Elk. — A small number of 

 elk were shipped into the Estes Park 

 district of the Colorado National Forest 

 at the expense of the people of Estes 

 Park, the Biological Survey, the Bur- 

 lington Railroad, and the Forest Serv- 

 ice. These elk were to be seen in one 

 corner of the park, and last season the 

 money paid by guests for teams and 

 saddle horses to make the trip to see 

 these elk was a sum above the cost of 

 placing them in the park; so it can be 

 proven beyond a doubt that game cul- 

 ture by the State and the Federal gov- 

 ernment can be made to pay, in the 

 boldest sense of the word. 



State Benefits. — Not long ago a mem- 

 ber of the Forest Service said to me: 

 "Your^ argument about the value of 

 game is good, but you have not shown 

 in a single case that the Forest Service 

 derives a cent; all the money or benefit 

 goes to the State or communities of the 

 game region, while you are spending 

 money_ for these game plants, and you 

 are giving the rangers time, which 

 means money, to assist in the enforce- 

 ment of the law." There is a protection 

 Forest in Colorado upon the watersheds 

 of streams, the flow from which has 

 very high value for irrigation, and one 

 of these streams furnishes the water 

 supply for a city of more than 200,000 

 inhabitants. 



This Forest costs $45,000 yearly to 

 administer. The receipts are very small 

 and there is no prospect of the receipts 

 ever reaching the sum of the cost of 

 administration. The prime purpose of 

 the Forest is to protect these water- 

 sheds, though the Service does not get 

 a cent from irrigation. It surely must 

 be possible to give attention to game 

 culture as a secondary matter in forest 

 protection, particularly when such time 

 given to game culture does not detract 

 from, but adds to, the standard of for- 

 est protection and renders the National 



Forests of greater value to the States 

 and Nation. 



Restocking Depleted Game Areas. — 

 All through the National Forests there 

 are numberless areas where big game 

 was once abundant and from which it 

 has been driven out or killed through 

 lack of protection. There is every rea- 

 son to believe that game will thrive upon 

 the majority of these areas if plants can 

 be made upon them and the animals al- 

 lowed to adjust themselves to the con- 

 ditions and increase. Some study and 

 careful work will be required if the 

 capturing of specimens, transportation, 

 and planting is to be done successfully. 

 The question arises as to whom this 

 should naturally fall upon. * * * 



The whole question is a new one, and, 

 of course, there is a possibility of mak- 

 ing the mistake of placing animals on 

 areas where the natural conditions will 

 cause them to become a nuisance to 

 farmers and ranchmen, either by sum- 

 mering in their grain or hay areas or 

 wintering around their haystacks. Con- 

 sidering the necessity of care and expe- 

 rience, I think the work should be initi- 

 ated by the Biological Survey and the 

 Forest Service in co-operation with the 

 States. The Forest Service, under the 

 direction of the Biological Survey, can 

 collect most readily and at least cost 

 data upon areas to be stocked and loca- 

 tions where specimens can be captured. 

 The Biological Survey can then take up 

 the capturing and shipment.^ Forest of- 

 ficers might be used for this work, but 

 it should be carried forward under the 

 direction of the Survey. 



Costs and Charges. — There should be 

 an appropriation for this work, say 

 $20,000 yearly, to be expended upon a 

 one-third or one-fifth basis. In other 

 words, the Federal government funds 

 should be used where the State, people 

 of the communities, railroads, and game 

 protection associations, etc., will put up 

 two-thirds or four-fifths of the costs, 

 and the States furnish the specimens 

 where they cannot be furnished by the 

 Federal government, or where they can 

 be secured to best advantage from the 

 State. Ready response will be received 

 to such a move. The only thing re- 

 quired is decisive action upon the part 



