VANISHING GLORY

Forest and Bird, Issue 54, 1 November 1939, Page 2

VANISHING GLORY

THE PROPER METHOD.

In New Zealand, when the extermination of some species is threatened, the usual idea put forth is that a few specimens should be captured and released on a sanctuary. The advocates of such schemes usually have little or no knowledge of the capabilities of the area to supply the routine of food required nor know what the necessary food supply consists of month by month. Such methods are nothing more than experiments or gambles. In Canada and the United States of America, a threatened species is given the credit of knowing what it wants. Much money and biological knowledge are therefore made available to protect the species on the last resort or resorts it itself has chosen. The following is condensed from an article by John Lindsey Blackford in “Nature Magazine,” which describes the energy, money and skill which are now being expended in an effort to save the Trumpeter Swan, America’s most noble waterfowl. Red Rock Lakes sanctuary is one of its known breeding grounds, and was specially acquired for the attempt to save the species.

HIGH among the ranges of the Rockies, verdant beneath the snow-crowned peaks of the Centennials, gemmed and jeweled with shimmering lakes, lies the valley of a last refuge, the vale of a final tarrying. For it is at Red Rock Lakes Migratory Waterfowl Refuge, new scenic super-sanctuary of the federal government in south-western Montana, created primarily for the protection of our threatened trumpeter swan, and in nearby Yellowstone Park, that this largest and most gracious of all North American wild fowl makes its courageous last stand within our borders. There we find hope that the trumpeter swan —whose high white legions once thronged the skyways, whose resonant voices once proclaimed the ebb and flood of New World migration—may survive. And, in its survival, we may hope that its snowy chevrons will signalize America’s new vision, her new conception of a priceless natural heritage. Lying at an elevation of seven thousand feet, the Centennial Valley is best reached from the Dillon-Idaho Falls highway. A fair-weather road exists, connecting it with the Henry Lake district of Idaho, and from there over beautiful Targhee Pass, and through the Targhee National Forest one arrives at West Yellowstone. Claimed to be the most scenic of our federal

wildlife refuges, Red Rock presents a memorable panorama of mountain grandeur and lakeland loveliness. Vaulting skyward to form a southern rampart for this valley of the last refuge, the crests of the Centennials first command the eye. In late July, when we drove over the pass, numerous snowbanks still lined the road, while in hidden cirque and sheltered gorge, or on favoured northern exposure, gleamed broader fields of white. Red Rock Lakes Migratory Waterfowl Refuge, comprising “the most important single nesting ground of the trumpeter swan in the United States,” was established by Executive order of April 23, 1935, in no small measure a tribute to the vision and championship of the late George Wright. It now contains 27,555 acres, and while it is of particular value to the swans, more than 200 other species of birds, including many nesting ducks, make use of the sanctuary. The reserve is not only strategically located upon the flyways of the vast western interior, but is suited by natural fitness for such a site. An ample water supply does not diminish greatly even in the driest years, and a small dam in the watercourse leading from the lower lake maintains a fairly constant water level. The depth of the upper body of water varies from six inches to seven feet; that of Lower Red

Rock is more ideal for the purposes of the refuge, its average depth over an area of several thousand acres being about fourteen inches. Swan Lake, adjoining the upper basin, is the shallowest of the three lakes. Viewed basically, the story of Red Rock Refuge is the narrative of America awakening to the passing of its wildlife; of science striving for the perfecting of a management technique; of the response the wild is making to intelligent aid and whole-hearted protection. ‘The livest the most widespread, and perhaps the most socially significant activity in the field of American biology to-day,” writes W. L. McAtee, research specialist of the Survey, “is the technology known as wildlife management.” It is these many factors that are so remarkably well typified at Red Rock in the person of A. V. Hull, its first and present manager. Prior to his eleven years in the Survey, Mr. Hull did notable work in the field of ornithology. He is now collaborating with Clarence Cottam, chief of the Division of Food Habits Research of the Biological Survey, who in conjunction with the University of Utah and the Bureau is producing a state list, The Birds of Utah. It is the tragic story of this largest of North American waterfowlone that may yet have a happy endingthat has become the epic of Red Rock. Will it continue, we wonder, to be a story of vanishing glory? “Exterminated by gunfire!” Thus W. L. Dawson voiced the consensus of opinion respecting the diminution of the great bird whose former range occupied the larger portion of the continent. “Wherever in settled regions,” wrote Edward A. Forbush, “swans were seen to alight, every kind of a firearm that could do duty was requisitioned, and all turned out to hunt the great white birds.” Indeed, from early historical accounts, we find that many swan skins were taken at Red Rock itself. Yet to-day, the range of the larger of the two species in this country is restricted to northwestern Wyoming and southwestern Montana, and to the Henry Lake District in Idaho, which lies between. And it is only within a few years that it was definitely learned that a remnant still bred in this region. No other trumpeter swans exist, save a last surviving company in the rugged wilderness of Canada’s western-most province. Through the courtesy of J. A. Munro, Chief Federal Migratory Bird Officer for British Columbia, the

following statement regarding their present status has been prepared for this article, and by the permission of F. H. H. Williamson, Controller, Department of Mines and Resources. Lands, Parks and Forests Branch, Ottawa, is here included: “According to the best information available the number of trumpeter swans in British Columbia is in excess of five hundred birds. This estimate is based on the annual enumeration of wintering bands which assemble on certain waters situated both on the coast region and in the central interior. In the latter district, where winter conditions usually include periods of sub-zero temperature, the feeding grounds are restricted to limited areas on certain rivers where a swift current prevents the water from freezing. Elsewhere the birds usually have a wide choice and their feeding grounds may include several different lakes. The more important wintering grounds are guarded by Assistant Migratory Bird Wardens appointed by the Canadian Government. The duty of these officers includes the feeding of swans when this is rendered necessary by severe weather conditions. Barley is the grain chiefly used for winter feed. “Losses in trumpeter swan populations are mostly due to lead poisoning* and to starvation. Loss through shooting has been reduced to a minimum in recent years. “As most of the wintering bands under observation contain sufficient cygnets to insure the perpetuation of these populations the future of the species would seem to be reasonably secure so long as adequate protection is afforded.” In 1937 trumpeters in the United States were known to have numbered 158 birds, an increase of 43, more than 37 per cent., from the year before. The 1938 census reveals a decline to 148 individuals, despite the large number of cygnets produced this same year at Red Rock, indicating that over-optimism is not warranted and that only rigid protection will save the species. The methods employed at Red Rock Lakes to assist increase are interesting. Twenty-four artificial nesting islands were first constructed and anchored in place to encourage the swans to nest in places where they could best be pro*Note.Lead poisoning in waterfowl is caused by the birds taking up shot pellets along with gravel and is invariably fatal,

tected. The natural structure is usually a huge, often half-floating “haycock” of dry tule stems. Taking his cue from the birds, Archie Hull had truckloads of tules dumped at favourable locations on the ice. With its melting the tule mounds became partially submerged. Whether or not suggestion plays a part in swan psychology, the results have been unusually satisfactory. “From the time the ice leaves the lakes until the first of August, when the young birds are fairly grown,” reported Mr. Hull to the Survey, “I do not permit anyone to venture on the lakes where the swans nest. I do not go on the nesting ground myself, fearing the sun’s rays may injure the embryo within the uncovered eggs; also for fear that an overcast sky or storm may chill them before the swans return to the nest. I am sure nothing gladdens our hearts more than to know that the trumpeter swans here are at least holding their own.” “The voice of the trumpeter swan has a hornlike quality, very low in key,” says Allan Brooks. “When a flock is passing overhead, the calls do not seem to be particularly loud, but long after, from miles away, the low resonant trumpet comes back clear and insistent. I do not think the clear whistling shout of the whistling swan will carry half the distance.” “They presented the most impressive spectacle in bird life ever seen in North America,” stated Edward H. Forbush, describing avian migration. Above all the lesser migrant waterfowl, “higher still in the glowing firmament rode the long ‘baseless triangles’ of the swans, sweeping across the upper air in the exalted and unswerving flight, spanning a continent with the speed of the wind, their forms glistening like silver in the sunset glow.” With a lineage older than ours, with a beauty unrivalled by that of almost any other living form, the trumpeter’s right to exist is inherently as fully justified as our own. Collectively we are doing all that administration, science, and alert technology can do to perpetuate their race. But as individuals, will our respect for wildlife and our self-restraint be such that success will reward these efforts? It is definitely known that during one hunt-

ing season prior to the creation of the refuge several swans were killed either by design, or because they were confused with snow geese, the excuse commonly given by hunters. The outstanding fact remains, however, that in 1938, despite the addition of fifty-five young, the total number of this species in the United States fell from 158 to 148. Wildlife counts cannot be entirely accurate but they afford a close index. Without doubt a vitally important percentage of the pitifully few remaining are killed each year by persons ignorant of the identity of the birds or wantonly disregardful of the situation. So long as there continues to be an open season on snow geese in this comparatively small area, that fact will serve as an escape, or at least as a mitigating circumstance, in the case of those guilty of the destruction of swans. The position of this elegant species is too precarious to warrant delay. Education is needed, but education is lamentably —too slow. A great effort and a great expenditure are being made in the development of the refuge programme. The success of what would unquestionably be one of its crowning accomplishments must not be jeopardized by irresponsible persons. Any one with the slightest appreciation of the values involved might reasonably be expected to refrain from any act that might possibly bring danger to the species. Unfortunately this is not the case. It is therefore the considered opinion of this writer that a closed season upon snow geese should be declared by the proper agencies throughout the Red Rock— Henry Lake—Yellowstone area, and that it should be kept in force there over whatever length of time may be required for the swans to pass this most critical stage in their recovery. It is not the “swan song,” the death-song of the trumpeters, that we would hear, it is those living, far-carrying voices from the skyways to which we would listen. When their mighty snow-white pinions again go winging down the flyways of America, when their trumpet voices come back to us again long after their passing, we shall realize more fully than now that none could replace them. When once more we behold them, traversing like angel squadrons the vast, uppermost lanes of the sky, we shall know how empty that blue vault would have been without them. Let us resolve that Red Rock and their few other last refuges shall not be merely the scenes of a final tarrying, but truly the road of their glorious return.