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FOREST AND STREAM 
CANADA’S NATIONAL PARKS 
BY DEVELOPING THEM INTO A “NATURAL HISTORY SCHOOL” 
THE DOMINION IS SETTING AN EXAMPLE FOR AMERICA 
I N the matter of setting aside national 
parks which shall serve as pleasure 
grounds for her people, Canada has set 
an example which the United States may 
well ponder. Her government recognizes 
the importance to human welfare and hu¬ 
man efficiency of giving opportunity to 
all her people for recreation in the out¬ 
doors—recreation essential to overcome the 
conditions of modern life, which tend con¬ 
stantly to sap the public health. 
Besides this, Canada is farsighted enough 
to recognize that in her waste places, so- 
called, she has a great national asset, 
which each year will bring into the coun¬ 
try many visitors spending great sums of 
money, and that these people—more or 
less well-to-do—will, by visiting these na¬ 
tional parks, learn something about the 
great country which lies to the north of 
us; will come again, and will tend to 
bring others with them. Canada’s won¬ 
derful scenery, its great tracts of timber, 
as yet almost untouched, its waters teem¬ 
ing with fish, and its forests with game, 
make an appeal to various classes of people 
which many of them find it hard to resist. 
T 0 the outdoor man interested in wild 
life these national parks present won¬ 
derful attractions in the fauna, the 
flora and the other forms of life which 
abound there. Here those who know about 
wild life may increase their knowledge, and 
those who know nothing about it may at¬ 
tempt the beginnings of knowledge. It 
has been well said by the Commissioner 
of Dominion Parks that “in future years 
the parks should be the natural history 
schools of Canada, and ultimately, as 
civilization encroaches more and more upon 
the wilderness, the parks will probably be 
the only places where the native fauna and 
flora will be found in a natural state.” 
In Canada’s national parks exists now 
the greatest collection of buffalo on the 
earth. There are still some antelope there, 
though in Canada, as everywhere else, the 
antelope appear to be verging on extinction. 
Deer, moose, elk and caribou are being 
preserved in these wild life refuges so 
wisely set apart. 
Canada has long had national parks, but 
we believe it was the Honorable Frank 
Oliver, during his administration, who 
made the greatest increases in their area, 
and the plans he set on foot have been 
carried out and broadened in a manner that 
is most gratifying. In the national park 
at Banff herds of white goats, sheep and 
other wild animals are to be seen by the 
visitors. People love to look at wild ani¬ 
mals ; and groups of tourists make special 
trips to the feeding range of these creatures 
to see them. 
Within the year Jasper Park and Water- 
ton Lakes Park have been greatly enlarged, 
and the increases in their area will do 
much to assist in preserving the wild life 
of the Rockies. Jasper Park has been en¬ 
larged from 1,000 to 4,400 square miles, 
while the Waterton Lakes Park, originally 
very small, has been so enlarged that it 
now covers 423 square miles. And as it 
adjoins the Glacier National Park, in Mon¬ 
tana, an international game refuge has 
practically been established, which cannot 
fail to be of the greatest benefit. 
T HE high price of furs to-day suggests 
the great reduction that has taken 
place in the fur-bearing animals, once 
the source of immense wealth to Canada 
and to the United States, but now almost 
extinct within our borders, and in Canada 
greatly reduced in numbers'. The protec¬ 
tion of these animals, especially the beaver, 
in Algonquin Park has greatly increased 
their numbers, and an extension of this 
preservation will be useful to the world. 
The United States has done much in es¬ 
tablishing refuges for wild fowl, and for 
water birds, and it has passed a law for the 
preservation of migratory birds, and Can¬ 
ada has done her part by ratifying the 
treaty entered into not long ago. It is 
most important that the two countries 
should work together in caring for the 
migratory birds, and it is a happy situation 
that both seem now willing to do it. 
The report of Mr. J. B. Harkin, Com¬ 
missioner of Dominion Parks, recently re¬ 
ceived, is a document of extreme interest. 
To Mr. Harkin’s report are added reports 
of the Superintendent of Dominion Parks, 
and more detailed reports about the Rocky 
Mountains, the Yoho and Glacier, Buffalo, 
Elk Island, Waterton Lakes, Jasper, Revel- 
stoke, and St. Lawrence Island Parks. Be¬ 
sides these, it gives reports by the curator 
of the Banff Museum, by the Alpine Club, 
by the timber and grazing inspector, and 
an analysis of nationalities of visitors to 
the various hotels. The report is illus¬ 
trated by a number of beautiful photo¬ 
graphs of wild game. 
I T IS in the preservation of wild life es¬ 
pecially that readers of Forest and 
Stream are interested. The number 
of buffalo in Buffalo Park may be imagined 
from the fact that the natural increase 
for the year covered by the report was 202. 
The losses are small, but each year a few 
buffalo are injured in fighting and in other 
ways, and either die or must be killed. In 
Buffalo Park are also elk, moose and mule- 
deer, which are doing very well, but the 
antelope do not thrive, and are now re¬ 
duced to three, all bucks. About Buffalo 
Park farming has been carried on to some 
extent, and on 210 acres rowed to oats, 
no less than 14,000 bushels were harvested. 
In Elk Island Park there are 97 buffalo, 
and elk and deer, all in good condition. 
Hay was harvested for winter feed. Here 
also are now 31 moose, five calves having 
been born the last season. 
The game is reported to be increasing 
and becoming tamer in Jasper Park. Sheep 
and goats are seen at points on the moun¬ 
tain near the railroad and the deer come 
down even to the townsites. There are 
many beaver, which are increasing, and 
bears and other large game are often seen 
in the park. Jasper Park was visited re¬ 
cently by Sir A. Conan Doyle and his wife, 
who brought a party with them, and a 
poem written by the author is printed in 
the report. 
Revelstoke Park has within its limits 
bear, deer and caribou, while the fishing 
there is said to be extraordinarily good. 
On the whole the report on the Domin¬ 
ion Parks is a paper of extreme interest, 
and one that every outdoor man should 
possess. It can be obtained by applica¬ 
tion to the Minister of the Interior, Do¬ 
minion Parks Branch, at Ottawa, Canada. 
Canadian Park Scenery. 
