16 
FOREST AND STREAM 
January, 1922 
FOUNDERS OF THE AUDUBON SOCIETY 
ADVISORY BOARD 
GEORGE BIRD GRINNELL, NEW YORK, N. Y. 
CARL E. AKELEY, American Museum of Natural History, New York. 
EDMUND HELLER, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C. 
WILFRED H. OSGOOD, Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, 111. 
JOHN M. PHILLIPS, Pennsylvania Game Commission, Pittsburgh, Pa. 
CHARLES SHELDON, Washington, D. C. 
GEORGE SHIRAS, 3d, Washington, D. C. 
JOHN T. NICHOLS, American Museum of Natural History, New York. 
WILLIAM BRUETTE, Editor 
JOHN P. HOLMAN, Managing Editor 
TOM WOOD, Business Manager 
Nine East Fortieth Street, New York City 
Member of Audit Bureau of Circulation 
THE OBJECT OF THIS JOURNAL WILL BE TO 
studiously promote a healthful interest in outdoor rec- 
reation, and a refined taste for natural objects. 
August 14 , 1873 . 
A GOOD SEASON FOR GAME 
T his season has been a banner season for the Amer- 
ican sportsman. Game of the sort usually hunted 
was more plentiful, generally speaking, than it has 
been for many years. In some localities there were 
more ducks and geese than the oldest inhabitants ever 
saw before. East of the Mississippi River, migratory 
birds made their southern flight in unprecedented num- 
bers. The quail, or bob-white, is present also in num- 
bers not equaled for years. And the deer is not so 
scarce, apparently, as it used to be. 
All told, the hunters who carried a gun into the field 
or to lake or river between the opening of the season 
and New Year’s found the happiest hunting grounds 
of many years, according to reports from United States 
game wardens stationed from Maine to Florida and 
from the Atlantic to the Mississippi. 
GAME REFUGE BILL 
I F YOU have not written your Senators and Repre- 
sentatives at Washington soliciting their support of 
the Public Shooting Ground — Game Refuge Bill, do 
it at once. The bill is now before Congress and the aid 
of every outdoor man is necessary to secure its passage. 
In the meantime, drainage projects continue to flour- 
ish. The American Game Protective Association has 
received a letter from a member from Sandpoint, Idaho, 
telling of a private reclamation project that has in view 
the complete draining of Mirror Lake and Frye’s Lake. 
It is the plan of the promoters to build a dike between 
the Kootenai River and the 4,400 acres of bottom land 
in which the above lakes are situated. The result will 
be the complete drainage of the very best waterfowl ter- 
ritory in that section. Perhaps no better wild duck lakes 
exist in the northern panhandle of Idaho than Mirror 
and Frye’s Lakes, and it is extremely regretted that an- 
other area will no longer serve as a breeding ground for 
the myriads of waterfowl that nest there, or a shooting 
ground for the sportsmen of that vicinity. 
The bottom land in its entirety could have been pur- 
chased for a reasonable figure had the Public Shooting 
Ground — Game Refuge Bill been passed in time. Our 
informant also tells us that he has heard it rumored that 
the Canadian Government is at the present time nego- 
tiating with the United States, looking to the enlarge- 
ment and lowering of the outlet of Kootenai Lake in 
British Columbia, so that the Kootenai River bottoms 
between Bonners Ferry, Idaho, and Kootenai Lake, 
British Columbia, could all be drained and made into 
farm lands. If this is done, it will mean the complete 
destruction of the waterfowl breeding territory in the 
entire Kootenai River valley from Bonners Ferry north- 
ward to the lake. 
FEED THE BIRDS 
T he time is ripe to look after the welfare of the 
birds and small game. Every man who shoots 
will be well repaid in time if he will scatter a little 
grain where it will be found by the birds. This may 
best be done after a storm of snow or sleet. Though 
the winter may or may not be a severe one from now 
on, it will be a long one, and with the lack of old-time 
covers the game will need all the attention it may 
receive. 
In this connection it is gratifying to note how wide- 
spread is the desire to feed game birds. Farmers are 
doing commendable work, and sportsmen’s clubs detail 
members to scatter food after every severe storm. In 
many places local papers print frequent reminders that 
the game need feeding, and mention the names of those 
who are doing their part, thus establishing friendly 
rivalries among communities, all of which is praise- 
worthy. 
WILD LIFE AND LOGGING 
T hat game is rapidly disappearing as a result of 
logging, is the claim made in a petition presented 
by Lincoln County residents to the Montana legis- 
lature last winter, praying for the establishment of a 
game preserve on Wolf Creek and Fisher River. In the 
petition it was stated that lumbering had encroached 
upon the forests in that region to such an extent that 
the game was rapidly disappearing and that a game 
preserve in this virgin country, wherein game would 
have complete protection, was an absolute necessity to 
perpetuate the supply and stock the adjacent areas. It 
seems to be the opinion of most “old timers’’ that logging 
operations are a menace to wild life. 
Glen A. Smith, Assistant District Forester of the 
United States Forest Service at Missoula, Montana, said 
that his observations in Montana, covering a period of 
some 20 years, led him to believe that the method of 
slash burning and leaving the logged areas in a denuded 
condition which is followed by a majority of lumber 
operators, is a real menace to wild life. 
He is firmly convinced that if a method of logging 
and brush disposal that would leave the young growth 
in a condition to insure a future forest, were adopted, 
wild life would be benefited. Through logging opera- 
tions the dense cover would be opened up, allowing the 
sun’s warm rays, and the dew and rain to penetrate to 
Mother Earth and a bountiful supply of vegetation 
would result. 
Anyone who has traversed a logged-over area that 
has not been denuded by fire will recall the added sup- 
ply of timothy, red top, clover, willows, raspberries, 
strawberries, Oregon grapes, service berries, all of which 
add to the natural food of wild life and with shelter in 
the form of reproduction, there is little doubt but that 
wild life will thrive and multiply. 
