The Daily Alaska empire., 1937-07-31
FOREST SERVICE. HAS PART, MUCH ALASKA GROWTH
Wildlife Management and CCC Programs Look to
 Territory's Future
EXTRA DUTIES ASSUME SPECIAL IMPORTANCE
Regular F crest Service Business in Territory
 Also Shows Increase

For the United States as whole, one of the strongest trends devel- oped by the rapidly growing multi pie land use policy is a greater con- sideration for wildlife and recrea- ton. With an ever increasing army of nearly 15000,OO0 hunters and fishermen supplemented by several million more who are purely recrea- tionists it is easily evident why greater consideration must be given to such features of our national life.
 Transporta ton has been so great ly accelerated in recent years that Alaska is destined to soon occupy a very prominent place in this picture. While it is still true that Alaska is our last frontier, it is no longer the almost inaccessible place of few years ago. Measured in travelling time it is now a matter of hours only from the Pacific Northwest. It is safely practicable that with its sa- lubrious climate and an abundance of natural resources, the Pacific Coast region is bound to become an increasingly popular place for hu- man beings to live.
 Considered in the light of these very probable developments south eastern Alaska from it's comparative nearness and accessibility, its pro- tected inland waterways, its present and potential possibilities as wildlife habitat, assumes a greater importance.
 Forest Service Has Part
 To avoid mistakes similar to those made in connection with the development of the West and to cor rect some existing bad practices and conditions a program of protection and planned use should be initiated for these extensive public c-owned re- sources which have not yet been brought under careful management. With probably 99 percent of the land area in southeast Alaska in- cluded in the National Forests, the Forest Service has full measure of this responsibility.
 One of the necessary steps in any plan of scientific wildlife manage ment is to establish as accurately as possible the actual numbers of our present native stock of at least the most important species. This is nothing more than an attempt to inventory what we have on hand as starting point Existing figures for the actual numbers of big game animals in the Alaska National For ests are merely perfunctory guesses for the most part, or a compilation of observations made by the field men in connection with other work. As an instance of how much figures arrived at in this manner can be in error, the following instance is in- teresting. During the hoof and mouth epidemic in California number of years ago, it was neces- sary to exterminate all the deer on a given area. Popular guesses had averaged about 2500 as the number of deer on the area but 23,000 were actually killed on this same tract when it became necessary to com pletely exterminate them.
 Scientific methods have been de- yeloped in the States by research and study to point where it is now possible to secure census fig ures for game which are proving remarkably accurate. There is a large work pool in Alaska along these lines, which needs to be cleared up in order to set up intel ligent management plans for our wildlife resources with foresight into the future well beyond the span of our personal lives.
 In recognition of it's share in this responsibility, the Alaska branch of the Forest Service is planning def hiAet VI 6dihDdoioii Oc tcolSCi oIt Eilii the various branches of the Fed eral and Territorial government which are involved in the manage ment of our wildlife resources.
 Realizing the wisdom of the Chin csc sage, Confucius who said that "A picture is worth ten thousand words" and that we have here in Alaska, a great wealth of material, plans are under way for a scenario of our wildlife. This will be joint enterprise of the Biological Survey and the Forest Service covering as thoroughly as possible the various life phases of our big game ami mals. A distinct objective will be to show these animals in their win
 (Cnnffntad o., Dona Civl