Several valua"ble and interesting species were allowed to "become extinct 

 in th.e years "before there was any general conception of the need for a care- 

 fully vrorked out ■udldlif e-conservation program that could "be coordinated, 

 with agricultural' and industrial activities. It is "bad logic to argue that 

 "because there is no realization of a loss no loss has "been suffered. The 

 present generation of Americans never knew, nor can any ever know, the pas- 

 senger pigeon and the heath hen, out it is a certainty that modern life is 

 the poorer for the extermination of these "birds. Then, too, there is always 

 the active possi'bility that the exterm.ins.tion of R,ny native creature may 

 cause grp.ve distur'bances in the complicated ecological system of a Country, 

 Evidences of such damage and a realization of its significance may not appear 

 for many years follox-/ing the disaster, ■ . ' 



EAGT-FIiroiNG BASIS TOR PIAIIS ~ 



Such in "brief is the philosophy underlying the recent restoration acti- 

 vities and plans in the United States, Actually these plans have "been de- 

 veloped over a period of more than 55 years of research and study hy techni- 

 cians on the staff of the Fish and Wildlife Service, Facts slov/ly accumu- 

 lat.ed throughout the period have oeen "brought together, like the sections 

 of an aerial landscape photograph, until a definite, recogniza"ble pattern 

 has appeared, ¥hen at last the means to proceed with a program v;ere provided, . 

 . the essential needs were known as well as the methods "by which they could "be 

 met. r , . • 



The principal need was for land, Bird-'banding, food-ha"bits, and ha"bitat 

 studies conducted for half a century furnished precise , information as to the 

 .type of land required to, support each of the many different species. It was 

 realized that , except for the ha"bitats of .such creatures as find suita"ble 

 environmental conditions upon cultivated lands, most of the areas that might 

 "be devoted to the restoration program V'ould necessarily "be of types not adapted 

 to prof ita"ble agric\iltural uses ; or that they .v^ould "be situated where the re- 

 sults of the soil-ccnserva,tion and v/ater-control measures necessary for 

 wildlife-management operations would "be of gre.at importance to the general 

 land-utilization program, 



For the minimum requirements of waterfowl, a"bout 7,500,000 acres of 

 marsh and water refuge areas are needed on the "breeding grounds, along the 

 courses of the four major f Ij^ways , and on the v;intering grounds used "by these 

 "birds. Nearly 3,000,000 acres, particularly for migratory waterfowl, have 

 now "been acquired or are. in process of acquisition. The areas making up the 

 remainder are already known and can "be acquired as means are provided. 



To maintain adequate stocks of other "birds and mam.mals in the "United 

 States, Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico,,a"bout 85,000 acres have "been set 

 aside for colonial nongame species; over 10-,500.000 acres for "big game, and 

 almost 4,000i000 .acres 'f or migratory and miscellaneous forms of wildlife. 

 The completion of this -acq-olsition and develop.-.'e.o.t program will not dispose 

 of the j)ro"blen! , however, since conditions governing land use do not remain 

 sta"ble and immuta"ble. They must change constantly to meet the constantly 

 changing requirements of the people, and provision for the maintenance of 

 wildlife must "be sufficiently flexi"ble to allow adjustment. 



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