582 
FOREST 
AND STREAM 
October, 1918 
PLAYGROUNDS OF OUR NORTHERN ALLY 
THE WILD SPOTS INCLUDED IN THE CANADIAN PARKS DESCRIBED BY COMMISSIONER J. B. 
HARKIN IN HIS INTERESTING REPORT SHOULD REMAIN AS UNSPOILED ISLANDS OF NATURE 
T HE report of 
the Commis- 
s i o n e r of 
Dominion Parks 
for the year end¬ 
ing March, 19 * 7 . 
possesses great 
interest for per¬ 
sons on both sides 
of the Interna¬ 
tional boundary 
line. Mr. J. B. 
Harkin, the Com¬ 
missioner of Do¬ 
minion Parks, has 
given us a useful 
and entertaining 
pamphlet, which 
takes up the whole 
subject of outdoor 
life as affected by 
the parks set aside 
in Canada. 
To readers of 
Forest and Stream the most interest¬ 
ing side of these parks is that which 
has to do with their wild life. In 
all these regions wild birds and animals 
are increasing, and, as has been the ex¬ 
perience in so many other regions, notably 
in the Yellowstone Park, these wild things 
are losing their fear of man. Deer are so 
tame that they come into the town sites, 
are seen in groups on the streets and go 
around to the back-doors looking for bits 
of food. Wild sheep and goats, formerly 
met with only in remote regions, are now 
seen in all parts of the park and even on 
the motor road. In the Jasper and Water- 
ton Lakes Parks, bear, moose, elk, beaver, 
grouse, ptarmigan 
and wild fowl are 
noticeably increas¬ 
ing. In the autumn 
of 1916, great 
numbers of wild 
ducks and geese 
flew into Jasper 
Park at the open¬ 
ing of the hunting 
season and re- 
mained there, 
seeming to feel 
that within its 
borders they were 
safe. 
It has many 
times been pointed 
out that the wild 
places of the earth 
are disappearing 
and that nature is 
being destroyed. 
It is well that the 
wild spots in¬ 
cluded in these 
Parks should re¬ 
main as islands of 
nature past which 
the tide of civili¬ 
zation and so- 
less protected is 
likely to disappear. 
Herds of muskox 
were formerly 
found as far south 
as Slave Lake, but 
now there are 
scarcely any 
throughout the 
whole Mackenzie 
District. 
The barren 
ground caribou 
also needs protec¬ 
tion. East of the 
Mackenzie there 
are still large 
herds, but west of 
that stream, along 
the northern coast 
as far as Pt. Bar- 
row, Alaska, they 
have almost dis¬ 
appeared. This is 
due largely to their destruction by hunt¬ 
ers sent out by the whalers of the 
northwest seas. Amendments to the ex¬ 
isting Northwest Game Act have been 
drafted by the Wild Life Board of 
Canada, looking toward a more adequate 
protection of barren ground caribou and 
of the white fox and other fur bearers. 
N interesting item in Mr. Harkin’s 
report is the statement that one of 
the most striking mountains in Jas¬ 
per Park has been named as a memorial 
for Miss Edith Cavell, the English nurse 
who was executed by the Germans. It is 
well that this martyr to the cause to 
which she was so 
devoted should 
have a permanent 
monument. 
The buffalo herd 
at the end of Jan¬ 
uary, 1917, con¬ 
sisted of 2,402 
head, almost all of 
which were in the 
Buffalo Park. 
Something is be¬ 
ing done in the 
way of crossing 
buffalo with do¬ 
mestic cattle and 
there are twenty 
head of the so- 
called cattalo. 
In the appen¬ 
dices are printed 
in some detail il¬ 
lustrated reports 
on the different 
parks. Old-timers 
along the eastern 
flanks of the 
mountains will be 
greatly interested 
to learn of the 
death of '‘Koote- 
Lynx in Jasper Park—harmless because well fed and unmolested 
called improvement should whirl without 
overwhelming them. 
Mr. Harkin feels deep interest in the 
migratory bird treaty and in the efforts to 
provide protection for the game and in¬ 
sectivorous birds which migrate from one 
country to another. It is gratifying to 
think that since this report was written 
both Governments have passed Enabling 
Acts, which are now the law of the land 
for all North America north of Mexico. 
Attention is called to the need of greater 
protection for the wild game of the north, 
which in recent years has decreased alarm¬ 
ingly. The muskox in certain regions is 
perilously near extermination, and un¬ 
it takes utmost patience to get a photograph of a beaver at worl 
