Evening star., 1937-03-07
DUCK SANCTUARY NEAR HERE
Government Acts Through Biological Survey Restore Ranks
of Wild Game After Years of Destructive Practices in
Various Parts of the Country.

The advent Of the white man
brought also a hunting system that
has been highly destructive to wild
life. The theory. handed dowl. by
tradition, has been that the owner
ship of most game, whether 1t was
found on private or public lands, was
vested in the State or Federal Gov
ernment and that hunting was the
right of any individual who wished
TO indulge in it. The tradition is
but the natural heritage from an
cestors who found it necessary to the
preservation of life that the. kill to
provide meat for themselves and their
families and skins for clothing. The
role of hunter has come down through
the generations as naturally as has
the ideal of liberty.
1t is estimated that today there are
$4,000 900 hunters in the United
States. They are equipped with mod
ern firearms, including repeating shot
guns and rifles, and more powerful
ammunition. The use OF blinds, live
decoys and baited shooting grounds
have added to the destruction suffered
by the waterfowl through the disap-
pearance Of habitat. The automobile
and the fast motor boat have en-
abled the hunter to reach the most
isolated spots, and all these factors
have brought hunting to degree Of
efficiency that has rapidly depleted
game life.
Another factor that has contributed
to the death of hundreds of thousands
of waterfowl has been the continued
drought conditions in the Middle West.
Many nesting and feeding places used
by these birds year after year have
disappeared and with them have
disappeared their former tenants.
PRESERVATION Of wild Life now
rests in the hands of several Gov
ernment agencies, which work hand in
hand with State game departments
and nature associations. The water
fowl refuge at Roachs Run, for ex-
ample, is administered by the Ma
tional Park Service, while that at
Blackwater comes under the juris-
diction of the Biological Survey.
Research into conditions affecting
| wild life was first set up as a separate
part of the work of the Department
of Agriculture in 1885, with three en-
/ ployes and an annual appropriation
! of $4,000 From these small begin
nings has grown the present Biolog-
ical Survey, which provides a wild life
service of one sort or another, de-
pending on local conditions, in every
State in the Union.
Examples of the diversity of the
| duties it carries out lie in the fol-
lowing: Investigations concerning the
classification. distribution, conserva-
ton, utilization and control Of wild
life. The administration of Federal
laws, particularly those covering the
Illegal interstate commerce in game
| and furs and the importation Of
harmful wild animals and birds, as
well as the enforcement of the pro-
visions of the migratory-bird treaty
| act for the protection of all birds that
migrate between the United States
and Canada. The most important
feature of this treaty is the prohibition
of Spring shooting and the sale Of mi
gratory birds. particularly ducks and
geese. A similar treaty with Mexico
| has just been enacted.
The Biological Survey, too. admins
ters more than 100 wild-life refugees,
exclusive of those handled by the Ma
tional Park Service and the Forest
Service. The bird refugees under its
care range from Florida to Alaska,
while others he in outlying islands
Of the Hawaiian group and in Puerto
Rico.
IN 1894 President Roosevelt allo-
Gated $S,50o,000 for the pur-
chase of new and the restoration Of
old areas for wild life, mainly water
fowl, and the following year Congress
added 100000 to this amount. With
these funds nearly 100000 acres had
been acquired or were under contract
at the end of 1886, and the program
calls for 4,0oo, 900 acres by 1910. The
land so purchased lies along the four
principal routes followed by water
fowl in their annual north-and-south
migrations and which has been ruined
by drainage. 1t is planned to restore
the water to these areas and develop
vegetation affording food and cover.
Despite the apparent ambitious
character of this program, officials
of the Biological Survey point out that
q total Of 84,000,000 acres have been
drained throughout the country, as q
whole, and that the policy Of reclaim
ing the rich soil Of the swamps and
river-bottom lands goes on.
Conservation Of waterfowl life oc-
cupies the spotlight in the activities
Of the Biological Survey, since 1t is
among these birds that losses have
been heaviest. Drainage, overshooting.
prolonged drought, water pollution
and disease all have been factors that
have taken heavy toll of the ducks and
geese. But large and small upland
animals and birds are receiving atten-
ton as well.
Looming large in the work that Is
being done among tie larger animals
Is that under way IN the Hart Noun
tain game range, embracing several
hundred thousand acres stretching
from Hart Mountain in Southeastern
| Oregon on into Nevada. This area
was established by executive order in
1895, and on 1t will be maintained .
mo Yinniirn Of 1fl0 anfalore tooefhar