BIG GAME OF THE CANADIAN ROCKIES 119 



sections of the country. While it is not demanded by any large body 

 of citizens, it is, on the other hand, not opposed. It, therefore, Ues 

 wholly with our governments to decide whether they will be guided by 

 experience and take the steps necessary to ensure game for the future, 

 or whether they will neglect to do so and allow our game in the 

 Rocky mountains to meet the fate of the buffalo and antelope of the 

 prairies, of the elk of Ontario and Alberta, and of the sheep, grizzly 

 bear, goats and caribou of the Northwestern states. 



Oualific ti ^^ order to fulfil the purposes of a game preserve, it 



Required by a is necessary that the area selected have certain special 

 Game Preserve qualifications. These may be briefly stated as follows : 



1. Suitable range for all the large animals which the preserve is 

 designed to serve, including both winter and summer range. 



This requirement is too obvious to warrant any discussion. 



2. A minimum of commercial assets such as coal, oil or other 

 minerals, which require the establishment of permanent settlement for 

 their development. 



The fewer people there are in a game preserve, the less likelihood 

 there is of violations of the regulations, the less disturbance there will 

 be to the game and the more rapid will be its natural increase. 



3. A minimum of land valuable for grazing domestic stock, which 

 has been preempted by stock raisers or is primarily valuable for stock 

 range. 



With enormous areas which have no value as grazing lands, it 

 should seldom be necessary to interfere with legitimate stock-raising in 

 order to establish a game preserve. No areas whose value as grazing 

 lands has been proved by beneficial use should be included in game 

 preserves. 



4. No railway lines or probabilities of future railway construction. 

 Railways are in the same category as permanent settlements. They 



introduce undesirable complications in administration. 



5. Natural boundaries conforming to well-marked topographic 

 features of the country which are readily determined and, more par- 

 ticularly, which act as natural barriers to ingress and egress, and thus 

 facilitate guarding against trespass. 



We constantly see game preserves created which have but few of 

 these primary qualifications. This is due either to the attaching of the 

 game preserve to some other form of reservation, such as a forest 

 reserve or park, or to failure to make a thorough examination of the 

 area with these requirements in view. Most frequently do we see the 

 fifth requirement, that of natural boundaries, disregarded. In fact, 

 until 1911, there was not a game preserve in the West having such 



S 



