NATIONAL AND STATE GAME PRESERVES, AND BIRD REFUGES
Out West, there is said to be a "feeling" that game and forest
conservation has "gone far enough." In Montana, particularly, the
National Wool-Growers' Association has for some time been firmly
convinced that "the time has come to call a halt." Oh, yes! A halt on
the conservation of game and forests; but not on the free grazing of
sheep on the public domain. No, not even while those same sheep are
busily growing wool that is so fearfully and wonderfully conserved by a
sky-high tariff that the truly poor Americans are forced to wear
garments made of shoddy because they cannot afford to buy clothing made
of wool! (This is the testimony of a responsible clothing merchant, in
1912.)
We can readily understand the new hue and cry against conservation that
the sheep men now are raising. Of course they are against all new game
and forest reserves,--unless the woolly hordes are given the right to
graze in them!
Many men of the Great West,--the West beyond the Great Plains,--are
afflicted with a desire to do as they please with the natural resources
of that region. That is the great curse that to-day rests upon our game.
When the nearest game warden is 50 miles away, and big game is only 5
miles away, it is time for that game to take to the tall timber.
But in the West, and East and South, there are many men and women who
believe in reasonable conservation, and deplore destruction. We have not
by any means reached the point where we can think of stopping in the
making of game preserves, or forest preserves. Of the former, we have
scarcely begun to make. The majority of the states of our Union know of
_state_ game preserves only by hearsay. But the time is coming when the
states will come forward, and perform the serious duty that they neglect
to-day.
Let the statesmen of America be not afraid of making too many game
preserves! For the next year, one per day would be none too many!
Remember, that on one hand we have the Army of Destruction, and on the
other the expectant millions of Posterity. No executor or trustee ever
erred in safeguarding an estate too carefully. Fifty years hence, if
your successors and mine find that too much land has been set aside for
the good of the people, they can mighty easily restore any surplus to
the public domain, and at a vastly increased valuation. Give Posterity
at least _one_ chance to debate the question: "Were our forefathers too
liberal in the making of game and forest reserves?"
We can always carve up any useless surplus of the public domain, and
restore it to commercial uses; but none of the men of to-day will live
long enough to see so strange a proceeding carried into effect.
The game preserves of the United States government are so small (with
the exception of the Yellowstone and Glacier Parks), that very few
people ever hear of them, and fewer still know of them in detail. It
seems to be quite time that they should be set forth categorically; and
it is most earnestly to be hoped that this list soon will be doubled.
THE YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK.--This was the first of the national parks
and game preserves of the United States. Some of our game preserves are
not exactly national parks, but this is both, by Act of Congress.
It is 62 miles long from north to south, 54 miles wide and contains a
total area of 3,348 square miles, or 2,142,720 acres. Its western border
lies in Idaho, and along its northern border a narrow strip lies in
Montana. It is under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of the Interior,
and it is guarded by a detachment of cavalry from the United States
Army. The Superintendent is now a commissioned officer of the United
States Army. The business of protecting the game is performed partly by
four scouts, who are civilians specially engaged for that purpose, but
the number has always been totally inadequate to the work to be
performed.
At least one-half of the public interest attaching to the Yellowstone
Park is based upon its wild animals. There, the average visitor sees,
for the first time, wild mountain sheep, antelope, mule deer, elk,
grizzly bears and white pelicans, roaming free. But for the tragedy of
the Park bison herd,--slaughtered by poachers from 1890 to 1893, from
300 head down to 30--visitors would see wild bison also; but now the few
wild bison remaining keep as far as possible from the routes of tourist
travel. The bison were slaughtered through an inadequate protective
force, and (then) utterly inadequate laws.
Lieut.-Col. L.M. Brett, U.S.A., Superintendent of the Yellowstone Park
advises me (July 29, 1912) that the wild big game in the Yellowstone
Park in the summer of 1912, is as shown below, based on actual counts
and estimates of the Park scouts, and particularly Scout McBride. "The
estimates of buffalo, elk, antelope, deer, sheep and bear are based on
actual counts, or very close observations, and are pretty nearly
correct." (Col. Brett).
Wild Buffalo 49
Moose 550
Elk (in summer) 35,000
Antelope 500
Mountain Sheep 210
Mule Deer 400
White-tailed Deer 100
Grizzly Bears 50
Black Bears 100
Pumas 100
Gray Wolves none
Coyotes 400
Pelicans 1,000
The actual count of 49 wild bison in the Park, 10 of which are calves of
1912, will be to all friends of the bison a delightful surprise.
Heretofore the little band had seemed to be stationary, which if true
would soon mean a decline.
The history of the wild game of the Yellowstone Park is blackened by two
occurrences, and one existing fact. The fact is: the town of Gardiner is
situated on the northern boundary of the Park, in the State of Montana.
In Gardiner there are a number of men, armed with rifles, who toward
game have the gray-wolf quality of mercy.
The first stain is the massacre of the 270 wild bison for their heads
and robes, already noted. The second blot is the equally savage
slaughter in the early winter of 1911, by some of the people of
Gardiner, reinforced by so-called sportsmen from other parts of the
state, of all the park elk they could kill,--bulls, cows and
calves,--because a large band wandered across the line into the shambles
of Gardiner, on Buffalo Flats.
If the people of Gardiner can not refrain from slaughtering the game of
the Park--the very animals annually seen by 20,000 visitors to the
Park,--then it is time for the American people to summon the town of
Gardiner before the bar of public opinion, to show cause why the town
should not be wiped off the map.
The 35,000 elk that summer in the Park are compelled in winter to
migrate to lower altitudes in order to find grass that is not under two
feet of snow. In the winter of 1911-12, possibly 5,000 went south, into
Jackson Hole, and 3,000 went northward into Montana. The sheep-grazing
north of the Park, and the general settlement by ranchmen of Jackson
Hole, have deprived the elk herds of those regions of their natural
food. For several years past, up to and including the winter of 1910-11,
some thousands of weak and immature elk have perished in the Jackson
Hole country, from starvation and exposure. The ranchmen of that region
have had terrible times,--in witnessing the sufferings of thousands of
elk tamed by hunger, and begging in piteous dumb show for the small and
all-too-few haystacks of the ranchmen.
The people of Jackson Hole, headed by S.N. Leek, the famous photographer
and lecturer on those elk herds, have done all that they could do in the
premises. The spirit manifested by them has been the exact reverse of
that manifested in Gardiner. To their everlasting credit, they have kept
domestic sheep out of the Jackson Valley,--by giving the owners of
invading herds "hours" in which to get their sheep "all out, and over
the western range."
In 1909, the State of Wyoming spent in feeding starving elk $5,000
In 1911, the State of Wyoming spent in feeding starving elk 5,000
In 1911, the U.S. Government appropriated for feeding starving elk,
and exporting elk $20,000
In 1912, the Camp-Fire Club of Detroit gave, for feeding hungry elk
100
In 1910-11, about 3,000 elk perished in Jackson Hole
In 1911-12, Mr. Leek's photographs of the elk herds showed an alarming
absence of mature bulls, indicating that now the most of the breeding is
done by immature males. This means the sure deterioration of the species.
The prompt manner in which Congress responded in the late winter of 1911
to a distress call in behalf of the starving elk, is beyond all ordinary
terms of praise. It was magnificent. In fear and trembling, Congress was
asked, through Senator Lodge, to appropriate $5,000. Congress and
Senator Lodge made it $20,000; and for the first time the legislature of
Wyoming appealed for national aid to save the joint-stock herds of
Wyoming and the Yellowstone Park.
GLACIER PARK, MONTANA.--In the wild and picturesque mountains of
northwestern Montana, covering both sides of the great Continental
Divide, there is a region that has been splendidly furnished by the hand
of Nature. It is a bewildering maze of thundering peaks, plunging
valleys, evergreen forests, glistening glaciers, mirror lakes and
roaring mountain streams. Its leading citizens are white mountain goats,
mountain sheep, moose, mule deer and white-tailed deer, and among those
present are black and grizzly bears galore.
Commercially, the 1,400 square miles of Glacier Park, even with its 60
glaciers and 260 lakes, are worth exactly the price of its big trees,
and not a penny more. For mining, agriculture, horticulture and
stock-raising, it is a cipher. As a transcendant pleasure ground and
recreation wilderness for ninety millions of people, it is worth ninety
millions of dollars, and not a penny less. It is a pleasure park of
which the greatest of the nations of the earth,--whichever that may
be,--might well be overbearingly proud; and its accessibility is almost
unbelievable until seen.
This park is bounded on the south by the Great Northern Railway, on the
east by the Blackfoot Indian Reservation, on the north by Alberta and
British Columbia, and on the west by West Fork of the Flathead River.
Horizontally, it contains 1,400 square miles; but as the goat climbs,
its area is at least double that. Its valleys are filled and its lakes
are encircled by grand forests of Douglas fir, hemlock, spruce, white
pine, cedar and larch; and if ever they are destroyed by fire, it will
be a national calamity, a century long.
_So long as the American people keep out of the poorhouse, let there be
no lumber-cutting vandalism in that park, destroying the beauty of every
acre of forest that is touched by axe or saw. The greatest beauty of
those forests is the forest floor, which lumbering operations would
utterly destroy_.
Never mind if there is "ripe timber" there! The American nation is not
suffering for the dollars that those lovely forest giants would fetch by
board measure. What if a tree does fall now and then from old age! We
can stand the expense. If Posterity a hundred years hence finds itself
lumberless, and wishes to use those trees, then let Posterity pay the
price, and take them. We are not suffering for them; and our duty is to
save them inviolate, and hand them down as a heritage that we proudly
transmit unimpaired.
[Illustration: UNITED STATES NATIONAL GAME PRESERVES
and Five Pacific Bird Refuges]
The friends of wild life are particularly interested in Glacier Park as
a national game reservoir, and refuge for wild life. On the north, in
Alberta, it is soon to be extended by Waterton Lakes Park.
When I visited Glacier Park, in 1909, with Frederick H. Kennard and
Charles H. Conrad, I procured from three intelligent guides their best
estimates of the amount of big game then in the Park. The guides were
Thomas H. Scott, Josiah Rogers and Walter S. Gibb.[L]
[Footnote L: See _Recreation_ Magazine, May, 1910, p. 213]
They compared notes, and finally agreed upon these figures:
Elk 200
Moose 2,500
Mountain Sheep 700
Mountain Goats 10,500
Grizzly Bears 1,000 to 1,500
Black Bears 2,500 to 3,000
As previously stated, one of the surprising features of this new wonder
land is its accessibility. The Great Northern lands you at Belton. A
ride of three miles over a good road through a beautiful forest brings
you to the foot of Lake McDonald, and in one hour more by boat you are
at the hotels at the head of the lake. At that point you are within
three hours' horse-back ride of Sperry Glacier and the marvelous
panorama that unrolls before you from the top of Lincoln Peak. At the
foot of that Peak we saw a big, wild white mountain goat: and another
one watched us climb up to the Sperry Glacier.
MT. OLYMPUS NATIONAL MONUMENT.--For at least six years the advocates of
the preservation of American wild life and forests vainly desired that
the grand mountain territory around Mount Olympus, in northwestern
Washington, should be established as a national forest and game
preserve. In addition to the preservation of the forests, it was greatly
desired that the remnant bands of Olympic wapiti (described as _Cervus
roosevelti_) should be perpetuated. It now contains 1,975 specimens of
that variety. In Congress, two determined efforts were made in behalf of
the region referred to, but both were defeated by the enemies of forests
and wild life.
In an auspicious moment, Dr. T.S. Palmer, Assistant Chief of the
Biological Survey, Department of Agriculture, thought of a law under
which it would be both proper and right to bring the desired preserve
into existence. The law referred to expressly clothes the President of
the United States with power to preserve any monumental feature of
nature which it clearly is the duty of the state to preserve for all
time from the hands of the spoilers.
With the enthusiastic approval and assistance of Representative William
E. Humphrey, of Seattle, Dr. Palmer set in motion the machinery
necessary to the carrying of the matter before the President in proper
form, and kept it going, with the result that on March 2, 1909,
President Roosevelt affixed his signature to the document that closed
the circuit.
Thus was created the Mount Olympus National Monument, preserving forever
608,640 acres of magnificent mountains, valleys, glaciers, streams and
forests, and all the wild creatures living therein and thereon. The
people of the state of Washington have good reason to rejoice in the
fact that their most highly-prized scenic wonderland, and the last
survivors of the wapiti in that state, are now preserved for all coming
time. At the same time, we congratulate Dr. Palmer on the brilliant
success of his initiative.
THE SUPERIOR NATIONAL GAME AND FOREST PRESERVE.--The people of Minnesota
long desired that a certain great tract of wilderness in the extreme
northern portion of that state, now well stocked with moose and deer,
should be established as a game and forest preserve. Unfortunately,
however, the national government could go no farther than to withdraw
the lands (and waters) from entry, and declare it a forest reserve. At
the right moment, some bright genius proposed that the national
government should by executive order create a "_forest_ reserve," and
then that the legislature of Minnesota should pass an act providing that
every national forest of that state should also be regarded as a _state
game preserve_!
Both those things were done,--almost as soon as said! Mr. Carlos Avery,
the Executive Agent of the Board of Game and Fish Commissioners of
Minnesota is entitled to great credit for the action of his state, and
we have to thank Mr. Gifford Pinchot and President Roosevelt for the
executive action that represented the first half of the effort.
The new Superior Preserve is valuable as a game and forest reserve, and
nothing else. It is a wilderness of small lakes, marshes, creeks,
hummocks of land, scrubby timber, and practically nothing of commercial
value. But the wilderness contains many moose, and zoologically, it is
for all practical purposes a moose preserve.
In it, in 1908 Mr. Avery saw fifty-one moose in three days, Mr.
Fullerton saw 183 in nine days, and Mr. Fullerton estimated the total
number of moose in Minnesota as a whole at 10,000 head.
In area it contains 1,420,000 acres, and the creation of this great
preserve was accomplished on April 13, 1909.
THE WICHITA NATIONAL GAME PRESERVE.--In the Wichita Mountains, of
southwestern Oklahoma, there is a National game preserve containing
57,120 acres. On this preserve is a fenced bison range and a herd of
thirty-nine American bison which owe their existence to the initiative
of the New York Zoological Society. On March 25, 1905, the Society
proposed to the National Government the founding of a range and herd, on
a basis that was entirely new. To the Society it seemed desirable that
for the encouragement of Congress in the preservation of species that
are threatened with extermination, the scientific corporations of
America, and private individuals also, should do something more than to
offer advice and exhortations to the government.
Accordingly, the Zoological Society offered to present to the
Government, delivered on the ground in Oklahoma, a herd of fifteen
pure-blood bison as the nucleus of a new national herd, provided
Congress would furnish a satisfactory fenced range, and maintain the
herd. The offer was at once accepted by Hon. James Wilson, Secretary of
Agriculture, and the Society was invited to propose a site for a range.
The Society sent a representative to the Wichita National Forest
Reserve, who recommended a range, and made a report upon it, which the
Society adopted.
By act of Congress the range was at once established and fenced. Its
area is twelve square miles (9,760 acres). In October, 1908, the
Zoological Society took from its herd in the Zoological Park nine female
and six male bison, and delivered them at the bison range. There were
many predictions that all those bison would die of Texas fever within
one year; but the parties most interested persisted in trying
conclusions with the famous tick of Texas.
Mr. Frank Rush was appointed Warden of the new National Bison Range, and
his management has been so successful that only two of the bison died of
the fever, the disease has been stamped out, and the herd now contains
thirty-nine head. Within five years it should reach the one-hundred
mark. Elk, deer and antelope have been placed in the range, and all save
the antelope are doing well. The Wichita Bison Range is an unqualified
success.
THE MONTANA NATIONAL BISON RANGE.--The opening of the Flathead Indian
Reservation to settlement, in 1909, afforded a golden opportunity to
locate in that region another national bison herd. Accordingly, in 1908,
the American Bison Society formulated a plan by which the establishment
of such a range and herd might be brought about. That plan was
successfully carried into effect, in 1909 and '10.
The Bison Society proposed to the national government to donate a herd
of at least twenty-five bison, provided Congress would purchase a range,
fence it and maintain the herd. The offer was immediately accepted, and
with commendable promptness Congress appropriated $40,000 with which to
purchase the range, and fence it. The Bison Society examined various
sites, and finally recommended what was regarded as an ideal location
situated near Ravalli, Montana, north of the Jocko River and Northern
Pacific Railway, and east of the Flathead River. The nearest stations
are Ravalli and Dixon.
The area of the range is about twenty-nine square miles (18,521 acres)
and for the purpose that it is to serve it is beautiful and perfect
beyond compare. In it the bison herd requires no winter feeding
whatever.
In 1910 the Bison Society raised by subscription a fund of $10,526, and
with it purchased 37 very perfect pure-blood bison from the famous
Conrad herd at Kalispell, 22 of which were females. One gift bison was
added by Mr. and Mrs. Charles Goodnight, two were presented by the
estate of Charles Conrad, and three were presented from the famous
Corbin herd, at Newport, N.H., by the Blue Mountain Forest Association.
Starting with that nucleus (of 43 head) in 1910, the herd has already
(1912) increased to 80 head. The herd came through the severe winter of
1911-1912 without having been fed any hay whatever, and the founders of
it confidently expect to live to see it increase to one thousand head.
THE GRAND CANYON NATIONAL GAME PRESERVE of northern Arizona, embraces
the entire Grand Canyon of the Colorado River, for a meandering distance
of 101 miles, and adjacent territory to an extent of 2,333 square miles
(1,492,928 acres). Owing to certain conditions, natural and otherwise,
it is not the finest place in the world for the peaceful increase of
wild game. The Canyon contains a few mountain sheep, and mule deer, but
Buckskin Mountain, on the northwestern side, is reeking with mountain
lions and gray wolves, and both those species should be shot out of the
entire Grand Canyon National Forest. It was on Buckskin and the western
wall of the Canyon itself that "Buffalo" Jones, Mr. Charles S. Bird, and
their party caught nine live mountain lions, in 1909.
I regret to say that "Buffalo" Jones's catalo experiment on the Kaibab
Plateau seems to have met an untimely and disappointing fate. For three
years the bison and domestic cattle crossed, and produced a number of
cataloes; but in 1911, practically the whole lot was wiped off the earth
by cattle rustlers! Mr. Jones thinks that it was guerrillas from
southern Utah who murdered his enterprise, partly for the reason that no
other persons were within striking distance of the herd.
MOUNT RAINIER NATIONAL PARK.--This fine forest park is the great summer
outing ground of the people of the state of Washington. Its area is 324
square miles, and as its name implies it embraces Mount Rainier. Easily
accessible from Seattle and Tacoma, and fairly well--though not
_adequately_--provided with roads, trails, tent camps, hotels and livery
transportation, it is really the Yellowstone Park of the Northwest.
THE YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK in California is so well known that no
description of it is necessary. Its area is 1,124 square miles (719,622
acres). Its great value lies in its scenery, but along with that it is a
sanctuary for such of the wild mammals and birds of California as will
not wander beyond its borders to the certain death that awaits
everything that may legally be killed in that state.
CRATER LAKE NATIONAL PARK.--Like all the National Parks of America
generally, this one also is a game sanctuary. It is situated on the
summit of the Cascade Mountains of Oregon. The wonderful Crater Lake
itself is 62 miles from Klamath Falls, 83 miles from Ashland, and it is
6 miles long, 4 miles wide and 200 feet deep. This National Park was
created by Act of Congress in 1902. Its area is 249 square miles
(159,360 acres), and it contains Columbian black-tailed deer, black
bear, the silver-gray squirrel, and many birds, chiefly members of the
grouse family. Owing to its lofty elevation, there are few ducks.
THE SEQUOIA AND GENERAL GRANT NATIONAL PARKS were created for the
special purpose of preserving the famous groves of "big trees,"
_(Sequoia gigantea_). The former is in Tulare County, the latter in
Tulare and Fresno counties, California, on the western slope of the
Sierra Nevadas. The area of Sequoia Park is 169,605 acres, and that of
General Grant Park is 2,560 acres. They are under the control of the
Interior Department. These Parks are important bird refuges, and Mr.
Walter Fry, Forest Ranger, reports in them the presence of 261 species
of birds, none of which may be hunted or shot. Into Sequoia Park 20
dwarf elk and 84 wild turkeys have been introduced, the former from the
herd of Miller and Lux.
OTHER NATIONAL PARKS
SULLY HILLS NATIONAL PARK, at Devil's Lake (Fort Totten), North Dakota.
Area 960 acres.
PLATT NATIONAL PARK, Sulphur Springs, Oklahoma; on account of many
mineral springs. Area 848 acres.
MESA VERDE NATIONAL PARK, Southwestern Colorado; on account of cliff
dwellings, and wonderful cliff and canyon scenery. Area, 66 square
miles.
* * * * *
NATIONAL MONUMENTS
Under a special act of Congress, the President of the United States has
the power forever to set aside from private ownership and occupation any
important natural scenery, or curiosity, or wonderland, the preservation
of which may fairly be regarded as of National importance, and a duty to
the whole people of the United States. This is accomplished by
presidential proclamation creating a "national monument."
Under the terms of this act, 28 national monuments have been created, up
to 1912, of which 17 are under the jurisdiction of the Department of the
Interior, and 11 are managed by the Department of Agriculture. The full
list is as follows:
ALASKA: COLORADO: SOUTH DAKOTA:
Sitka Wheeler Jewel Cave
Colorado
ARIZONA:
Montezuma Castle MONTANA: UTAH:
Petrified Forest Lewis & Clark Cavern Natural Bridges
Tonto Big Hole Battlefield Mukuntuweap
Grand Canyon Rainbow Bridge
Tumacacori
Navajo NEW MEXICO:
El Morro WASHINGTON:
CALIFORNIA: Chaco Canyon Mount Olympus
Lassen Peak Gila Cliff Dwellings
Cinder Cove Gran Quivira
Muir Woods WYOMING:
Pinnacles OREGON: Devil's Tower
Devil's Postpile Oregon Caves Shoshone Cavern
* * * * *
THE NATIONAL BIRD REFUGES.--Says Dr. T.S. Palmer[M]: "National bird
reservations have been established during the last ten years by
Executive order for the purpose of affording protection to important
breeding colonies of water birds, or to furnish refuges for migratory
species on their northern or southern flights, or during winter. With
few exceptions these reservations are either small rocky islets or
tracts of marsh land of no agricultural value."
[Footnote M: National Reservations for the Protection of Wild Life, by
T.S. Palmer, U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Circular No. 87, Oct. 5, 1912.]
These reservations are of immense value to bird life, and their creation
represents the highest possible wisdom in utilizing otherwise valueless
portions of the national domain. Dr. Palmer's alphabetical list of them
is as follows, numbered in the order of their creation:
Belle Fourche, S. Dak. 34
Bering Sea, Alaska 44
Bogoslof, Alaska 51
Breton Island, La. 2
Bumping Lake, Wash. 39
Carlsbad, N. Mex. 31
Chase Lake, N. Dak. 20
Clealum, Wash. 38
Clear Lake, Cal. 52
Cold Springs, Oreg. 33
Conconully, Wash. 40
Copalis Rock, Wash. 13
Culebra, P. R. 48
Deer Flat, Idaho 29
East Park, Cal. 28
East Timhalier, La. 14
Farailon, Cal. 49
Flattery Rocks, Wash. 11
Forrester Island, Alaska 53
Green Bay, Wis. 56
Hawaiian Is., Hawaii 26
Hazy Islands, Alaska 54
Huron Islands, Mich. 4
Indian Key, Fla. 7
Island Bay, Fla. 24
Kachess, Wash. 37
Kecchelus, Wash. 36
Key West, Fla. 17
Klamath Lake, Oreg. 18
Loch-Katrine, Wyo. 25
Malheur Lake, Oreg. 19
Matlacha Pass, Fla. 23
Minidoka, Idaho 43
Mosquito Inlet, Fla. 15
Niobrara, Nebr. 55
Palma Sola, Fla. 22
Passage Key, Fla. 6
Pathfinder, Wyo. 41
Pelican Island, Fla. 1
Pine Island, Fla. 21
Pribilof, Alaska 50
Quillayute N'dles, Alaska 12
Rio Grande, N. Mex. 32
St. Lazaria, Alaska 46
Salt River, Ariz. 27
Shell Keys, La. 9
Shoshone, Wyo. 42
Siskiwit, Mich. 5
Strawberry Valley, Utah 35
Stump Lake, N. Dak. 3
Tern Islands, La. 8
Three Arch Rocks, Oreg. 10
Tortugas Keys, Fla. 16
Tuxedni, Alaska 45
Willow Creek, Mont. 30
Yukon Delta, Alaska 47
In addition to the above, the following governmental reservations have
been established for the protection of wild life: Yes Bay, Alaska, of
35,200 acres; Afognak Island, Alaska, 800 sq. miles; Midway Islands
Naval Reservation, H.T.; Farallon Island, Point Reyes and Ano Nuevo
Island, California; Destruction Island, Washington, and Hawaiian Islands
Reservation (Laysan).
* * * * *
STATE GAME PRESERVES IN THE UNITED STATES
PENNSYLVANIA.--The proposition that every state, territory and province
in North America and everywhere else, should establish a series of state
forest and game preserves, is fairly incontestable. As a business
proposition it is to-day no more a debatable question, or open to
argument, than is the water supply or sewer system of a city. The only
perfect way to conserve a water supply for a great human population is
by acquiring title to water sheds, and either protecting the forests
upon them, or planting forests in case none exist.
In one important matter the state of Pennsylvania has been wide awake,
and in advance of the times. I will cite her system of forest reserves
and game preserves as a model plan for other states to follow; and I
sincerely hope that by the time the members of the present State Game
Commission have passed from earth the people of Pennsylvania will have
learned the value of the work they are now doing, and at least give them
the appreciation that is deserved by public-spirited citizens who do
large things for the People without hope of material reward. At this
moment, Commissioner John M. Phillips and Dr. Joseph Kalbfus are putting
their heart's blood into the business of preserving and increasing the
game and other wild life of Pennsylvania; and the utter lack of
appreciation that is now being shown _in some quarters_ is really
distressing. I refer particularly to the utterly misguided and mistaken
body of hunters and anglers having headquarters at Harrisburg, whose
members are grossly mislead into a wrong position by a man who seeks to
secure a salaried state position through the hostile organization that
he has built up, apparently for his own use. In the belief that those
members generally are mislead and not mean-spirited, and that the
organization contains a majority of conscientious sportsmen, I predict
that ere long the evil genius of Pennsylvania game protection will be
ordered to the rear, while the organization as a whole takes its place
on the side of the Game Commission, where it belongs.
The game sanctuary scheme that Pennsylvania has developed is so new that
as yet only a very small fraction of the people of that state either
understand it, or appreciate its far-reaching importance.
To begin with, Pennsylvania has acquired up to date about one million
acres of forest lands, scattered through 26 of the 67 counties of the
state. These great holdings are to be gradually increased. These wild
lands, including many sterile mountain "farms" of no real value for
agricultural purposes, have been acquired, first of all, for the purpose
of conserving the water supply of the state; and they are called the
State Forest Reserves.
Next in order, the State Game Commission has created, in favorable
localities in the forest reserves, five great game preserves. The plan
is decidedly novel and original, but is very simple withal. In the
center of a great tract of forest reserve, a specially desirable tract
has been chosen, and its boundaries marked out by the stringing of a
single heavy fence wire, surrounding the entire selection. The area
within that boundary wire is an absolute sanctuary for all wild
creatures save those that prey upon game, and in it no man may hunt
anything, nor fire a gun. The boundary wire is by no means a fence, for
it keeps nothing out nor in.
Outside of the wire and the sanctuary, men may hunt in the open season,
but at the wire every chase must end. If the hunted deer knows enough to
flee to the sanctuary when attacked, so much the better for the deer.
The tide of wild life ebbs and flows under the wire, and beyond a doubt
the deer and grouse will quickly find that within it lies absolute
safety. There the breeding and rearing of young may go on undisturbed.
In view of the fact that hunting may go on in the forest reserve areas
surrounding these sanctuaries, no intelligent sportsman needs to be told
that in a few years all such regions will be teeming with deer, grouse
and other game. Where there is one deer to-day there will be twenty ten
years hence,--because the law of Pennsylvania forbids the killing of
does; and then there will be twenty times the legitimate hunting that
there is to-day. For example, the Clinton County Game Preserve of 3,200
acres is surrounded by 128,000 acres of forest reserve, which form
legitimate hunting grounds for the game bred in the sanctuary reservoir.
In Clearfield County the game sanctuary is surrounded by 47,000 acres of
Forest Reserve.
The _game_ preserves created in Pennsylvania up to date are as follows:
In Clinton County 3,200 acres
In Clearfield County 3,200 acres
In Franklin County 3,200 acres
In Perry County 3,200 acres
In Westmoreland County 2,500 acres
It is the deliberate intention of the Game Commission to increase these
game preserves until there is at least one in each county.
It is the policy of the Commission to clear out of the game sanctuaries
all the mammals and birds that destroy wild life, such as foxes, mink,
weasels, skunks and destructive hawks and owls. This is accomplished
partly by buying old horses, killing them in the preserves and poisoning
them thoroughly with strychnine.
Each preserve now contains a nucleus herd of white-tailed deer, some of
them imported from northern Michigan. Ruffed grouse are breeding
rapidly, and in the Clearfield County Preserve there are said to be at
least three thousand. The Game Commission considers it a patriotic duty
to preserve the wild turkey, ruffed grouse and quail, rather than have
those species replaced at great expense by species imported from the old
world. In their work for the protection, preservation and increase of
the game of Pennsylvania--partly for the purpose of providing legitimate
hunting for the mechanic as well as the millionaire,--the State Game
Commissioners are putting a great amount of thought and labor, and
whenever their efforts are criticized, their motives impugned or their
honesty questioned by men who are not worthy to unlace their shoes, it
makes me tired and angry.
NEW YORK:
THE ADIRONDACK STATE PARK.--With wise and commendable forethought, the
state of New York has preserved in the Adirondack wilderness, familiarly
known as "the North Woods," a magnificent forest domain forever
dedicated to campers, outdoorsmen and hunters. At present (1912) it
contains 2,031 square miles (1,300,000 acres) of forest-clad hills,
valleys and mountains, adorned by countless lakes and streams. By some
persons it has been believed that in the State's forests the cutting and
sale of large trees would be justifiable business, and agreeable to the
public; but it has been demonstrated that this is not the case. The
people of the state firmly object to the havoc that is _unavoidably_
wrought by logging operations in beautiful forests. The state does not
yet need any of the money that could be derived from such operations.
The chief anxiety of the public is that hereafter forest fires shall be
prevented, no matter what fire protection may cost! The burning of coal
on any railway operated through the Adirondacks should be made a penal
offense.
MONTANA:
In 1911 Governor Norris, Senator Cone and the legislature of Montana, at
the solicitation of W.R. Felton, L.A. Huffman and others, created the
SNOW CREEK GAME PRESERVE, fronting for ten miles on the Missouri River,
in the northern side of Dawson County. It is a magnificent tract of
bad-lands, very deeply eroded and carved, and highly picturesque. The
new state preserve contains 96 square miles, but there is so little
grazing ground for antelope and bison it is absolutely imperative that a
narrow strip of level grass land should be added along the southern
border. This proposed addition is being fiercely resisted, by an
organized movement of the sheep owners of Montana (the National Wool
Growers' Association), who naturally want the public domain for the free
grazing of their tariff-protected sheep-herds. It remains to be seen
whether the _three_ sheep men south of the preserve,--the only men who
really are affected,--will be able to thwart a movement that has for its
object the development of a very good game preserve for the benefit of
the ninety millions of the general American public. The range is
necessary to contain representatives of the big game of the plains that
has been so ruthlessly swept away, and particularly the vanishing
prong-horned antelope, once very numerous in that region.
In order to relieve the sheep men of all trouble on account of that
preserve, the area should be enlarged to the right dimensions and made a
national preserve. A bill for that purpose (Senate 5,286) is now before
the Senate, in Senator McLean's Committee, and _help is needed_ to
overcome the active hostility of the sheep men, _who vow that it never
shall be passed_! All persons who read this are invited to take this
matter up with their Senators and Representatives, without a moment's
delay.
WYOMING:
THE TETON STATE PRESERVE.--One of the largest and most important state
game preserves thus far established by any of our states is that which
was created by Wyoming, in 1904. It is situated along the south of, and
fully adjoining, the Yellowstone Park, and its area is 900 square miles
(576,000 acres). Its special purpose is to supplement for the elk herds
and other big game the protection from killing that previously had been
found in the Yellowstone Park alone. The State Preserve is an admirable
half-way house for the migrating herds when they leave the National Park
to seek their regular winter ranges in and around the Jackson Valley.
[Illustration: BIRD RESERVATIONS ON THE GULF COAST AND FLORIDA]
In 1909, Wyoming established the Big Horn Game Preserve, in the mountain
range of that name. Into it 25 elk were taken from Jackson Hole, and set
free, in 1910, at the expense of the Sheridan County Sportsmen's Club.
LOUISIANA:
Great developments for the preservation of wild life have recently been
witnessed in Louisiana, all due to the initiative and persistent
activities of two men, Edward A. McIlhenny, of Avery Island, La., and
Charles Willis Ward, of Michigan, lumberman and horticulturist.
THE LOUISIANA STATE WILD FOWL REFUGE on Vermillion Bay, has an area of
13,000 acres. It was presented to the state by Messrs. Ward and
McIlhenny, and formally accepted and protected. It contains a great area
of fresh-water ponds and marshy meadows, wherein grows an abundant
supply of food for wild fowl. It contains several miles of gravel beach,
which during the winter season is visited by thousands of wild geese in
quest of their indispensable supply of gravel. The ponds within its
borders furnish feeding-grounds for canvasback ducks, redhead, mallard,
blackhead and various species of wild geese.
OTHER STATE GAME PRESERVES
Acres
IDAHO.--Payette River Game Preserve 230,000
CALIFORNIA.--Pinnacles Game Preserve 2,080
WYOMING.--Big Horn Mountains Game Preserve.
MONTANA.--Yellowstone Game Preserve.
Pryor Mountain Game Preserve.
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