The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-01-26
NATURE SANCTUARIES
PLAN TO ESTABLISH BIT OF WILD
NESS IN EVERY TOWNSHIP.
Place Where All Harmless Animals
and Vegetable Life Might Find
,Refuge-Its Benefits.
]. W. Lloyd In Recreation.

game preservers, natural history societies,
village Improvement clubs and the like in
the work of establishing nature sanctu-
aries; that is, places where, as far as may
be. all animal. vegetable and mineral ma
ture would be left free, wild and I'M
changed.
Now that the League Of American Sports
men, the Audubon societies and others are
working for bird and game protection as
never before; since forestry is a profession
and the preservation of forests is attract
ing national attention; now that books on
nature are multiplying and growing so
popular as to be found in almost every
home. and that Yellowstone Park is
tually such sanctuary, the time seems
ripe for this movement.
What L have to propose is this: That
every township in the United States buy
and set apart a piece of land. however
small, and dedicate it to nature; a place
where no wild animal shall ever be mo-
Tested; tree cut, flower picked or stone re-
moved.
If you have at all the soul of a naturalist.
think of being able to reach, within an
hours walk, a place where the wild birds
and beasts are so, unafraid, yet natural.
that they fearlesSly go on with all the
usual processes of their lives as indiffer-
emily as If you were a tree or a grazing OK.
Think of a place where the tree lies where
1T falls; where no texts or odious adver-
tisements are painted on the rocks, no
initials carved on the trees, flowers
pulled, roots and all, no improvements
made! What place for the lover of wild
nature, of study for the student, of rest
for the weary! Think what such an I'M
touched spot would look like at the end of
a century!
In almost every township in the United
States there is some bit of wild waste land,
practically valueless for agriculture that
could be bought for a small sum and
turned into sanctuary. The more barren,
hilly, rocky, rugged Swampy, the bet
ter. Often the more utterly valueless such
place is, agriculturally or commercial
ly, the more picturesque it is to the ar
tistic eye, the more fitting in every way for
the uses of nature park. 1t would be
an advantage, however. if in the spot
chosen there should be a great variety OF
surface, soil and condition, swamp and hill.
stream and pond, wet and dry, clay and
sand, slope and level, evergreen and de-
ciduOus forest
WOULD NEED LITTLE CARE.
In most of the forest States little would
be necessary except to inclose such an
area and leave it to nature. In the prairie
State it would, no doubt, sometimes be
necessary practically to create the sanctu-
airy by planting trees and introducing the
animals The need of a place of the kind
is tenfold greater in the prairie than in
the forest lands, for many children in the
open regions have never even seen wild
grove. To cultivate the soil thoroughly at
first, and make one thick, broadcast sow
ing of mixed tree seeds and nuts, would
probably be all the work ever necessary,
even there, except fencing and buying few
animals
How vastly superior such a place would
be to formal park. with fancy pagodas,
concrete walks, arranged shrubbery and
signs of Keep off the grasS!' How SUI
perior TO menagerie of prisoned brutes,
or a museum of stuffed victims, to an
actual student of nature! wild Animals L
Have Known" might then be the boast Of
every Schoolboy.
The sanctuary should belong to the COM
munity, although, of course, there is moth
ing to prevent rich men from having pri-
Vate ones on their own estates. The land
could either be presented to the township
by benevolent citizens, or bought by the
community. collectively, and held as pub
lie property. The more everybody Is In
terested in its possession and maintenance,
the more its ends are likely to be sub
served.
While the ideal of such a place is that
of absolute wildness and undisturbed ma
ture, there would probably not be many
places where such an ideal could be quite
consistently carried out. Probably in all
places animals actually dangerous to hui
man life would have to be excluded. Rat
tlesnakes and copperheads would certainly
be condemned, though it is to be hoped
that all other snakes would be spared.
Weasels would probably have to be checked
or extirpated, not only because so wantonly
murderOus to poultry, but because they
might be equally so to birds, rabbits, squir-
relS, etc, thus defeating the very ends OIL
the sanctuary; and unlimited offers might
soon eXterminate the fish in small lake.
Obviously, in a small preserve, the balance
of life could not be preserved as in a great
wilderness. Army worms, gypsy moths.
and their ilk. could not be given benefits OF
sanctuary, and most farmers would require
that COYOTES foxes and such "varmints'
no
promise would be necessary, and perhaps
the only way to effectively meet the diff
Guilty would be to place each sanctuary In
charge of a forester, or keeper. This torres
ter should not be a rough coarse specimen
a police guardian merely, but a man OF
gentle character, fond of animals and wild
life, sympathetic to the artistic possibilities
of the primitive and sufficiently educated
by observation and study to name and ex-
plain to visitors the various animals, flow
ers, rocks and trees they might be curious
about He should be firm and vigilant, but
a gentleman. Necessarily he should be q
good shot and skilled trapper, able to re-
move undesired animals without brighten
ing the Others Such a keeper would be
an absolute necessity to prevent poaching
intrusion of dogs, cats, stone throwing
boys flower thieves, bark thieves, rocH
painters and the like vandals. He could
be domiciled in a little house of logs OF
stones in the middle of his domain, house
made as much like its wild surrounding
as possible.
PLACE FOX n NAIURALlSI.
The position of forester would be an ideal
one for a naturalist, especially if his tastes
were literary or his health delicate. TIC
| this mans judgment could be safely left
the task of keeping a wise balance of life
in his little world, preventing any one
species from extirpating another or be-
| coming a nuisance to the public. He might
properly be required to keep journal Of
| observations on the weather, the habits Of
! animals etc, which would be Valuabl,
/ as a book of reference. His value as al
! experienced teacher TO visitors and stu
! dents should be great, too.
The sanctuary should be open to all well
/ behaved visitors, at all hours; but these
! should not be allowed TO take into the parl
] dogs, firearms, axes, traps, or other in
struments likely TO violate the sanctuary
| They should not be allowed to deface or in
/ jure. or make frightening noises, remov.
| anything or to leave lunch baskets, boxes
| paper bottles or such rubbish. Perhap:
/ the best way to secure these ends would b'
! to require each would-be visitor to ge
/ permission from the forester. giving prom
/ Use TO respect in all things the objects O
/ the sanctuary. To save repetition, the for
! ester could have them sign name and ad
| dress in a book, under printed pledge
and then give each badge to be worr
| conspicuously whenever in the sanctuary
| permission ana badge TO be recalled from
! anyone guilty of violation.
! In one important respect the letter of tn
/ sanctuary might be broken in the interes
of its spirit Those who have observed
/ all small birds and quadrupeds prefer
\ Jungle, or tangled thicket, such as coun
/ try roadsides show, to a great forest L
| breed in. Yet. if left to itself. the sane
fury have only majestic trees. with ittl,
/ ruderbrush or cover for the shy and tfni,