Campaigns for Control of Ground Squirrels. 5 



nized, or considered unavoidable. That such losses con- 

 stitute an entirely unnecessary drain upon the productive 

 capacity of the farms, and that they may be permanently 

 eliminated at a cost which is but a small fraction of the 

 damage occasioned during a single year, has been abundantly 

 proved by the extensive work already accomplished in cam- 

 paigns conducted by the Biological Survey in cooperation 

 with State and county organizations. 



COMMUNITY COOPERATION ESSENTIAL. 



The fact has been recognized for many years that com- 

 munity cooperation is essential to the effective control of 

 rodents which feed upon agricultural crops and migrate or 

 w ander from place to place in search of food and shelter. 

 During the last four years plans have been conceived and 

 put into operation which have effected the required co- 

 operation of many thousands of farmers and have resulted 

 in practical elimination of rodent pests over millions of 

 acres of valuable agricultural land, attended by an enormous 

 direct saving and followed by increase in crops produced. 

 The eagerness with which farmers have availed themselves 

 of the opportunity to join in concerted movements to obtain 

 relief from these pests, where the effectiveness of modern 

 poisoning methods has been demonstrated, is most significant 

 and gratifying, while the returns in increased crop yields 

 upon the amount of labor and money invested in the com- 

 munity campaigns have exceeded all expectation. A suc- 

 cessful fight against rodent pests requires that all local, 

 State, and National agencies concerned be brought into 

 harmonious and effective cooperation and that methods of 

 proved efficiency be used. 



COOPERATIVE CAMPAIGNS EXTERMINATING GROUND 

 SQUIRRELS IN NORTH DAKOTA. 



In the great gra in-producing areas of North Dakota there 

 has been developed the most extensive and thoroughly or- 

 ganized campaign, with a comprehensive plan of State- wide 

 eradication of rodent pests, that has yet been witnessed. 



This campaign was organized under a cooperative project 

 agreement between the Bureau of Biological Survey and the 



