BULLETIN NUMBER TWO 



49 



HOW THE SANCTUARY 

 PLAN WILL WORK 



Our very simple plan for the making 

 of game sanctuaries in national forests 

 is proposed as a good-faith idea for se- 

 curing something that the people most 

 concerned will desire, and enjoy. It will 

 rob nobody and coerce nobody ; and if 

 enacted into law it will bring something 

 good out of nothing. 



The United States Forest Service has 

 been selected as the chief creative in- 

 strument, because the men of that Bu- 

 reau know most about conditions in the 

 national reserved forests ; and in locat- 

 ing sanctuaries their co-operation would 

 be invaluable. Chief Forester Graves, 

 Mr. _ Potter, and others in the Forest 

 Service are in close touch with the graz- 

 ing interests of the West, and they 

 know what would be harmful to them. 

 Each sanctuary selected and proposed 

 by the Forest Service will be submitted 

 to the Governor of the State in which 

 it is situated, for his approval ; and when 

 he fails to approve, the preserve cannot 

 be made. 



It must be borne in mind, however, 

 that in an elaborate undertaking such 

 as this now proposed for bringing back 

 the _ big game, the working plan must 

 be simple, and free from circumlocution 

 and red tape. The results must be made 

 attainable without waste of effort or 

 undue loss of time. A cumbersome and 

 circuitous method oftentimes is sufficient 

 to defeat any number of good intentions. 

 Naturally, the success of this plan re- 

 quires a mutuality of confidence, in the 

 President, the Forest Service and the 

 Governors of States. The advantages 

 in making this a federal movement ra- 

 ther than a plan dependent upon the 

 various states surely will be obvious. In 

 state conservation of wild life it is a 

 fixed condition that some states will do 

 their duty, some will do half theirs, and 

 others will do practically none at all. In 

 the mattter of protecting the proposed 

 sanctuaries, few states would care to 

 assume any additional burdens in the 

 form of salaried game wardens. 



Federal establishment and control 

 means federal protection and the utiliza- 



tion of existing forest wardens. If Con- 

 gress objects to this plan, and maintains 

 that the effort should be made by the 

 various states, then the plan 7vill die, 

 the chain of sanctuaries never will be 

 made, and the big game never will be 

 brought back. It is a case of a federal 

 law, and federal development, or noth- 

 ing. 



And which will the American people 

 have ? 



RESTOCKING AT STATE 

 EXPENSE 



It is to be expected that if the game 

 sanctuary plan now proposed is carried 

 into effect, many of the sanctuaries es- 

 tablished will be found to contain a nu- 

 cleus stock of deer and possibly other 

 animals, sufficient for the purposes in 

 view. 



On the other hand, in many places it 

 will be found that restocking is impera- 

 tively necessary. In bringing this about, 

 some serious work, and some expendi- 

 tures also, will be necessary. This 

 brings us to the question of ways and 

 means. 



It is our view that by reason of the 

 fact that the citizens of the various 

 states concerned in this game-breeding 

 enterprise will derive for themselves 

 about nine-tenths of the profit to accrue 

 from the new food supply, those states 

 should pay the cost of such restocking 

 operations as are necessary. The money 

 should come from the funds accumu- 

 lated from the hunting-license fees. 



While it would be right for the na- 

 tional government to furnish elk at the 

 cost of crating and transportation for 

 all sanctuaries that are suitable for elk, 

 Congress should not be called upon to 

 appropriate funds for restocking pur- 

 poses. National co-operation is all right, 

 but the people who are to derive the 

 benefit from restocking operations 

 should be willing to pay the cost, — 

 which never will be a serious matter! 



For several years, the Pennsylvania 

 State Game Commission has been buy- 

 ing deer, and also a few elk, for re- 

 stocking her various state game sanc- 

 tuaries in the State forests. 



