THE OREGON SPORTSMAN 



NEW $225,000 WILD LIFE REFUGE. 



(Recreation, November, 1914.) 



For the purpose of establishing another wild fowl refuge 

 on the northern shore of the Gulf of Mexico, in line with the 

 campaign first advocated in this magazine, the Rockefeller 

 Foundation has purchased the Grand Chenier tract containing 

 85,000 acres in the parishes of Cameron and Vermillion, La., at a 

 cost of approximately $225,000. An announcement to this effect 

 was made by the secretary of the Foundation October 4, upon 

 the execution of a deed from the Rockefeller Foundation placing 

 the land for an initial term of five years under the protection of 

 the Louisiana Conservation Commission. The commission, on its 

 side, has formally accepted the tract and has undertaken to pro- 

 tect it by game wardens. 



This purchase, the arrangements for which have consumed 

 more than a year and a half, is another step in the program to 

 establish throughout the winter feeding and resting grounds for 

 birds, and along their migration routes, suitable refuges where 

 they can be protected at all times of the year and be safe from 

 persecution. It is due to the intelligent and public-spirited activ- 

 ity of Mr. E. A. Mcllhenny of Avery Island, La., who brought 

 the matter to the attention of the Rockefeller Foundation through 

 Mr. Starr J. Murphy, one of its trustees. 



The Grand Chenier tract is full of shallow ponds, lakes and 

 bayous, abounding in cover for the protection of birds against 

 storms. It produces an enormous quantity of natural food, suf- 

 ficient to provide for the vast number of birds from the north 

 which winter along the Gulf coast. 



The great tract purchased by the Rockefeller Foundation is 

 an integral part of the "wild life refuge system" which this 

 magazine was the pioneer in advocating and has consistently 

 supported. It is only a few miles from Marsh Island, purchased, 

 upon the recommendation of. Mr. Mcllhenny, in 1912, by Mrs. 

 Russell Sage for a bird refuge, at a cost of about $150,000. 



The Grand Chenier tract and Marsh Island are a part of a 

 refuge of 500 square miles with a frontage of 75 miles on the Gulf 

 coast, which it is proposed to acquire. Included in this vast tract 



Pag"e seventeen 



