110 COMMISSION OF CONSERVATION 



three-fourths, of the entire country which can never be cultivated or 

 ranged successfully. All of this land, even the desolate Arctic wastes 

 of the barren grounds, is suitable for the production of wild game and 

 fur-bearing animals. 



6. Wild game can be made to yield a very considerable revenue, 

 if maintained in sufficient numbers and variety to attract sportsmen 

 who are able and willing to pay for the privilege of hunting. This is 

 fully demonstrated in Maine and New Brunswick. 



7. Deer and other large game may be established and maintained in 

 any region where there is suitable range, regardless of the density of 

 the population, providing there are proper laws backed up by proper 

 public sentiment. This is proved by the experience of Connecticut 

 and other densely populated New England states. 



8. In certain regions, notable especially for their scenic attractions, 

 to which tourists may be attracted, the game has an aesthetic value 

 that far surpasses its value as an object of the chase, and in such 

 regions the propriety of extra restrictions is generally unquestionable. 



Applying these principles to the Canadian Rockies, we find there a 

 region almost devoid of agricultural possibilities, with valuable, though 

 limited, grazing lands, stocked with one of the most varied big game 

 faunas of North America, and possessing a wealth of mountain 

 scenery, of rivers and waterfalls, lakes and glaciers, snow fields and 

 unclimbed peaks unrivalled in America, if not in the world. Whether 

 as an attraction to the big game hunter who finds here more species of 

 big game than in any similar area on the continent, or as an attraction 

 to the tourist and mountain climber, who must inevitably find this the 

 most wonderful mountain playground in America, the game of the 

 Canadian Rockies has a value as a national resource that can scarcely 

 be exaggerated, and to let any of its numerous species be exterminated 

 would be an act of extreme folly. 



Enemiss of the Western Game 

 It, therefore, becomes of some importance to study 



D 'tmction ^'^"^ ''^^^ ^^^ factors that threaten the big game of 



this mountain region. Big game is destroyed by three 



principal agents. These are: (a) Natural causes, such as disease, 



predatory animals, accidents, combats or unfavourable climatic 



conditions. 



(b) Disturbance of the breeding grounds and interference with 

 natural range, especially the fencing up of the winter range of grazing 

 animals. 



(c) Hunting. 



