The Western news. [volume] (Libby, Mont.) 1933-current, 1937-07-08
More Play
Time Now for
Working Men
Must Give Thought to Forests
and Streams for Use
of Public.
NEW COURSE AT
STATE UNIVERSITY

To train men for the job of
working out the problems of
a longtime wild life program
is the purpose of a new course
to be offered at Montana
State University-this fall. The
course will lead to a Bachelor
of Arts degree in wild life
technology Tentatively laid
out for four years, it may be-
come a five-year- course and
will demand work well
above average it has been
announced.
Because of the Importance of
technical and scientific phases of
wild life problems, the combined
efforts of the botany and zoology de-
partments twill be devoted toward
providing curriculum giving thor
ough training to men whose job it
will be to make possible for the pub
lie the greatest use of the land re-
sources of the state and nation.
Graduates of the course will 60 into
work with either state or federal
agencies, including the forest ser
vice the national park service and
the United States biological survey.
| DR.. ]. w. Severy, chairman of the
botany department, and DR.. G. B.
Castle, acting head of zoology, have
prepared the new course. DR.. Severy
said today that it has been in
stituted in recognition Of the need
for competently trained men in the
more technical phases Of wild life
problems.
More Time for Play
sour social philosophy is chang.
ing" DR.. Severy said. With the
coming of shorter working hours
and more leisure time, it is neces-
sary for us to open the forests te
the public in way that never be-
fore has been attempted. It is oul
duty not only to protect the forests
as an area for timber, livestock anC
watershed, but now we must begir
the scientific study of stocking then
with game and fish.
1T may take some time to work
out this business of shorter hour.
for labor, but shorter hours vii
come. Then recreatlonal activity
| viii become tremendously impor
tant. We must make our outdoor
areas more widely used in recre
alton. We must have healthier
saner recreational program in tn
nation Everything that we put in
to study and this improvement 0
our land resources will yield ten
fold return.
"Industrially our forests have al
ways been important. In Montana
until recent years, the forests hav
been inaccessible because of poo
, roads. Now we have good roads
We already had the scenery. With
: tremendous increase each year i
. tourist traffic in this state, we mus
plan for a wise use Of our forest
, and a scientific approach to TIL
, question of providing ideal condi
tions-fish and game-to call tn
: tourist as we'll as our own resi-
: dents back again and again for rec
/ reation. That means that this ques
ton of wild life has become terribl
important.
Preparation for this work err
braces a considerable amount of ds
2 tailed study in the fields Of bot
: botany and zoology, because whel
: ever the animal is found, Whethe
: on land or in water, the sourc
4 of its energy and existence is plan
G food. The thoroughly-trained ma
c must have a knowledge of the plan
Y that provide the food as well as tt
G animals that use the food, if stream
G and land areas are to be brought
It the stage of maximum efficiency
]. utilization"
n DR.. Castle said that there is mut
It to be learned about Montana wi
5. life Disease, reclamation projec
n the drought and sportsmen have {
It contributed to the great drop
@ native and migratory fowl and "
II must give these birds a chance
u come back"
Much to Learn
I'VE must learn much more abo
the feeding and reproduction
y wild life. Few people know, 1
instance, that although hawks a
g owls and the fish-eating birds
u take few Of the things man priz
y stomach ANALYSES have shown tt
x they eat many times their o'
y, weight in rodents and destructi
&C insects. This is all part Of w
is life technology, purposes of VIII
III is to protect wild life SO that we m
have something for the future
There are plenty of fish in Nh
tanas streams now, but we KIN
On very little about maintenance of
IN life. We must know the number
ty pounds of fish every stream v
g. support. We must know the k