FOREST CONSERVATION ESSENTIAL TO GAME CONSERVATION.

Forest and Bird, Issue 21, 1 July 1930, Page 7

FOREST CONSERVATION ESSENTIAL TO GAME CONSERVATION.

(Paper read by George D. Pratt, at Sixteenth American Game Conference.)

As President of the American Forestry Association, I am naturally concerned about the forestry conditions of the country, the need foi the acquisition of more forest lands, more effective fire preventive measures and aggressive educational programmes which will spread the story of forest needs and progress,. but in the very nature of things, an interest in the forests must include a growing concern for the wild life which once lived here in such abundance. In fact, it was my interest in big game hunting that led me into conservation work many years ago. There are three phases of outdoor life which are very closely related, forests, game, and recreation. Without the forests many specimens of game could not exist, and unless the game animals are in the forests, thousands of people would feel no incentive to go there. The angler finds relief from the grind of every day living when he enters the woods to fish, but unless fish are in the streams he is unlikely to go. In other words, our forests lose much of their attractiveness and usefulness when they are without the presence of wild life. Game laws, necessary as they are, would be of little avail unless forest conservation and restoration is carried out. Take the disastrous change brought about in fish life due to the pollution of our streams and altered stream flow, which are the direct results of the burning or cutting of the forest cover. Streams that once had their birth in the protected areas of abundant forests have become sluggish and scanty of flow because they have been robbed of the benefits of the forest cover. In many cases soil washed from unprotected slopes by violent storms has choked the rivers and in other cases the streams have overflowed because of the rush of waters which, had the forests been in their natural state, would have been diverted to the forest bed. It is not hard to imagine the chaos wrought in the life habits of the wild duck which feeds and nests upon the lower reaches of a stream when destructive floods or faminishing droughts rob it of its home and food. Certain fish, such as the black bass, depend on the live food in the streams for their subsistence, and when we cut and denude our forests, we have in part at least destroyed their food supply. It goes without saying that a large toll of wild life is taken in every big forest fire. That is inevitable, and here again forest

conservation is game conservation, for proper protection against fire will naturally prevent loss of game. In spite of the fact that in some instances woodland fires are followed by shrubs and plants of special food value to certain species of game birds, it can never counterbalance the great loss sustained in the game life of the country through large forest fires. The very abundance of forests and game with which our country was blessed, led to the ruthless cutting and killing that went on for so many years, but we can in a measure atone for the mistakes of the past by the wise conservation and protection of the many millions of acres of forests and woodlands still within our borders. There is much work to be done in securing adequate appropriations from the Federal Government for the acquisition of additional forest lands, proper fire protection, etc., all of which will result in a direct benefit to our wild life. While there are certain problems wdiich need adjustment regarding land management for forestry purposes and for wild life, these can be adjusted and forests and game lovers have a common good in view in co-operating in the work of protecting the soil of the forests against erosion and fire, and encouraging the perpetual growth of trees, thus making for the natural conditions of wildlife environment. By collective effort, the forest conservationist has quite as much to gain as the game conservationist, because the wild lands of this country can be restored to plant and game productivity only by the development of a public will to protect and restore. This end can be reached by co-operation on >the part of the Federal Government in the acquisition, protection and management of wild forest lands, and then by the private owner in the development of commercially profitable methods of forest and game management. Under the protection of the Government are the National and State forests, game preserves and parks. A. significant step in the right direction was taken by the Government in the recently passed McNary-Sweeney Bill, which authorises forest research with a view to more intelligent National, State, and local programmes. These forest research programmes cover investigations of the problems and resources of wild life in connection with forestry practices. Wild life in this country is most abundant in the National forests of the west, which provide natural range for 7 5 per cent, of the big game animals in the public lands States. Within the national forests there are 125 State game refuges,* with a total area of 19,500,000 acres. In addition they include between two and three million acres in Federal game refuges, and 2,000,000 *sanctuaries

acres especially managed for game restoration. I hope we shall soon see the day when there will be more National forests in the east, as the presence of such forests will not only benefit the stream flow and natural environment but will provide game refuges. To this end the McNary-Woodruff Bill was passed in the Federal Congress last year, and if the funds authorised by the Bill are appropriated we can look for some relief in this direction. New York State will eventually set aside 100,000 acres of State-owned forest land as game refuges. It is perhaps even essential for the private owners of forest lands, whose holdings approximate 370,000,000 acres, to cultivate wild life if they are to increase the profitable utilisation of their lands. Commercial forestry is a precarious undertaking from a financial point of view, but the cultivation of the land to provide correct environment for wild life opens up many possibilities in the way of financial enterprises. In the last analysis, therefore, it is a question in a very literal sense of ‘‘getting back to the soil.” To many laymen, this phrase has no significance except from an agricultural standpoint, but no one can estimate the far-reaching benefits to be derived from the proper cultivation and restoration of the soil of our woodlands, where our forests must take their roots, and in the wake of adequate forest cover will come controlled stream flow, proper environment for game life, both land and aquatic, increased opportunities for recreation in the out-of-doors, which must result in greater vigour for the American people and thus bring to the nation a finer race of men than can ever be bred if we are to neglect our natural resources and live wholly urban lives.