The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1933-11-11
conservation
CRISIS FACED
BY NATION IN
CONSERVATION
CONSERVATION
Time Is Here When Steps
Must Be Taken to End
Destruction.

Destruction.
BY WILLIAM F. COLLINS
Times Special Writer
1t seems to be an accepted fact
among conservationists that this
( country has arrived at a crisis IN
/ conservation. So many have spoken
/ to me about it and have read it so
often in articles written by men
with more knowledge Of the subject
than 1, that there must be some
foundation for the statement.
Sixteen million citizens of the
United States buy an annual hunt
ing or fishing license. Their annual
expenditure for the sport approx
mates 700,0OO,00O Of these men
and women, 375,000 live in Indiana.
If there is a crisis, we should be in
formed about it.
With that many persons engaged
in the pursuit of outdoor sport and
interested in the future of it, that
set of circumstances, which now as
sumes the proportions of a crisis,
need not develop further than that
and become a debacle.
Time for Decision
We must approach the entire sub
ject with the knowledge that we
are dealing with natural phenomena
amply able to take care of itself
in the universal scheme of things
until man steps in to interfere. 1t
is in this interference that We find
the crux of the problem. 1t is quite
natural that we should ask our
| selves this question: rs it possible
for mankind to live in vast num-
bers in country, such as we have
and in such manner as to con-
serve its natural resources?"
The sparse population 200 years
ago, or even eighty years ago, pre-
Sented no problem as to the i'm
mediate conservation of natural
/ things.
1t is only under the stress of hu-
man numbers addicted to spoilage
for private gain that we find our
selves approaching the time when
it must be decided whether we
shall pursue course destructive
to natural resources to a bitter end
ing, or reasonably modify it so that
poSterity will have the same ad-
vantageS we enjoy.
Coal Gone Forever
We must differentiate now be-
tween those natural resources that
are dependable and those that can
be repleniShed. We never can fill
our coal mines again with the coal
that has been burned, nor the min
eral veins with the metals gone into
| commerce. We can not bring back
in commercial quantities those vast
herds of buffalo, even though they
were natural resource classified
as replacable.
There appears to be a line drawn
somewhere beyond which we can
not step, to replace a natural re-
source when that resource has
passed the line of minimum num-
bers. The obstacle may appear, as
with the buffalo, by using his range
for another purpose, or as with the
heath hen of Martha's Vineyard or
the sandhill cranes of Nebraska
that we're shot to a point below the
minimum ratio from which the spe-
cies could not regenerate.
Extenction Threatened
I am afraid that is what is meant
by the crisis in conservation,
of wild life. There is minimum
ratio below which the species be-
comes extinct, above which, with
mans assistance, the species may
be regenerated. The buffalo, at this
time, could be made commercially
available if we had the natural
range. Starting with only twenty
eight animals few years ago, the
biological survey saved the species.
The supply of timber in this
country by no means is exhausted.
Enough remains, so state the eX-
perts, for another century. But
after that, what? If timber follows
the law of minimum ratio, as it ap-
pears to have done in China, while
it still may be a replaceable prod
uct, the nation may have become SO
impoverished by its comparative dis
appearance that it will be unable
physically and financially to replace
it.
Legend Is Recalled
When Pan Ku, according to the
Chinese legend, fashioned the world
out Of chaos with his size, each day
he worked he gained six feet in
stature and died when the task was
completed. His head became the
mountains his breath the wind and
clouds, his voice the thunder, his
veins the rivers. His flesh became
the fields and his hair the trees. The
insects on his body became the
people.
From the twelfth century on
these insects made good use of the
natural resources of China, and it
became the center of culture, wealth
and refinement for the world. Pan
Ku's hair protected their fertile
fields from the demon erosion and
held back the three mighty veins
from devastating China with floods.
Then came the stress of popula-
ton, the rise and fall Of the glorious
house of Han, the advent of the
Tang emperors that correspond
somewhat to our chicken in every
pot" dynasty, only over a much
longer period of time.
Bankers Gained Control
1t was in this period that the rich
bankers under the protective wing