36 
Roosevelt Wild Life Bulletin 
There is thus an urgent need for scientific research. How can 
this be best favored? 
Proposed Remedy. Our larger universities, as a rule, have 
ignored the investigation of the larger game animals, and at present 
there is no indication of an early change of policy. The larger 
animals of the forest have for ages been considered as one of the 
regular products of the forest, or as Chief Forester Graves of the 
United States Forest Service has expressed it : " Wild life is 
largely a forest product. It should be regarded as a public resource, 
to be protected and systematically developed. It is a resource which 
is easily destroyed under abuse ; but it readily responds to right 
treatment. The intelligent fostering of the valuable wild life of the 
forest is and has always been one of the objects of forestry. Forests 
are more than trees. They are rather land areas on which are 
associated various forms of plant and animal life. The fore-ster 
must deal with all. Wild life is as essentially and legitimately an 
object of his care as are water, wood, and forage. Forest adminis- 
tration should be planned with a view to realizing all possible bene- 
fits from the land areas handled. It should take account of their 
indirect value for recreation and health as well as their value for 
the production of salable material ; and of their value for the pro- 
duction of meat, hides, and furs of all kinds as well as for the 
production of wood and the protection of water supplies." 
The relation of game to forests is thus seen to be a permanent 
one and not a temporary alliance. Progress in game should not 
depend upon the favor of a few men who happen to be interested, 
for it is based upon mutual fundamental interests and therefore 
there should be a definite policy looking forward to permanent 
results. For these reasons it is suggested that cooperation between 
those interested in game and fur-bearers and a forestry i:istitution, 
The New York State College of Forestry, is based on sound logic 
and upon mutual advantages. The College is a State educational 
and research institution which is devoted to the utilization of all 
forest crops both plant and animal. It is now coming to be generally 
recognized that animal crops (game and fish) from forests are 
necessary and legitimate in forest practice, as much so as is the pro- 
duction of cattle on the farm. 
The following provisional suggestions are intended to aid in the 
selection of a problem or problems and in the development of a 
working plan. 
