

Conservation Commission 195 



ined and considered before final adoption and has permitted pub- 

 lic hearings thereon, and whereas the Department of Agriculture 

 has adopted the regulations and caused the same to be engrossed 

 and submitted to the President of the United. States for approval, 

 and the same were proclaimed and signed by Woodrow Wilson, 

 President of the United States, the 1st day of October, 1913, and 

 as said rules and regulations conflict with the Conservation Law 

 in relation to the fish and game of the .State of A T ew York, I would, 

 therefore, respectfully recommend that the laws of ~Ne\v York 

 State be amended to conform with the Federal statute giving pro- 

 tection to migratory birds. 



Game Sanctuaries or Refuges 



I am informed by the Superintendent of Forests that there is 

 within this State a number of tracts of land under the control of 

 the Land Board, consisting of abandoned farms. Such lands 

 could be readily used for game and bird refuges or sanctuaries. 

 This work has been taken up by other States with good results, 

 as it provides a refuge in which birds and quadrupeds which are 

 protected by laAV can breed without being molested. The law 

 should be so drafted that it will set aside lands owned by the 

 State in charge of the Land Board, forbidding all hunting or 

 trapping thereon at any period of the year, and should provide 

 also for rules and regulations for properly posting said sanctuaries 

 along the boundaries, so as to give due notice to all persons who 

 are not familiar with the fact that the land has been set aside for 

 game protection, and that hunting or trapping thereon at any 

 period of the year was forbidden. This would meet a long-felt 

 want, and would be the means of protecting our game during the 

 breeding season. The game would naturally overflow from the 

 sanctuaries, stocking the surrounding territory. It would also 

 meet the recommendations of the State League, who recently 

 passed a resolution asking that $10,000 be set aside each year for 

 the purchase of land for game and bird refuges, and that the lands 

 which are abandoned farms and now under the control of the 

 Land Board be placed under the control of the Conservation Com- 

 mission. The idea of sanctuaries could be worked out without any 

 large cost to the State. 



