University of Idaho School of Forestry - Forester Yearbook (Moscow, ID)

Page 15 text:

14 THE IDAHO FORESTER grazing capacity of the available range, plus supplemental feed if provided, should be prac- ticed. It is inhuman to raise game in the summer and let it suffer the agonies of starva- tion in winter. Where there is conflict be- tween game and livestock on National Forest lands, a balance between the interests of both should be worked out. Game and livestock are both valuable resources and one must not un- necessarily crowd out the other. The problem of game on private lands is ditlicult to solve. Fortunately most land owners are friendly to- ward game and gladly tolerate game in rea- sonable numbers and complain only when it becomes burdensome. Lands which are the key to a particular game problem should be publicly owned and administered primarily for the benefit of game. This applies chieiiy to game winter rangesg summerranges are usu- ally adequate. CHANGES NEEDED IN GAME LAWS The conditions surrounding each game herd vary, with no two herds having the same prob- lems to meet. This brings out the need for fiexibility in game laws to permit the handling of any game herd as a unit, separate and apart from other herds, in accordance with its par- ticular conditions and needs. Big game con- servation has a wider field than mere law en- forcement and most of the states have now enacted laws giving to some one, either the Fish and Game Commissioner, a Game Com- mission, or a Board, authority to regulate hunting seasons, limit the kill as to numbers and sex for the purpose of controlling numbers where necessary to prevent range depletion and damage to private property and to use wisely any surplus of game that may exist. The first duty of every game administrator is to produce the maximum amount of game consistent with the forage supply and eco- nomic needs of the people. The ideal would be to remove only the surplus game animals. A surplus may be considered as existing when numbers exceed the year-long forage supply fnatural or artificialj, when control is neces- sary to safeguard against undue damage to private property, when the density of game is out of balance with numbers of livestock, and when there is a greater ratio of males to females than is necessary to maintain a proper breeding herd. The application of management principles will provide for producing and maintaining the greatest number of game animals possible on any given area and will also give the sportsmen maximum hunting privileges con- sistent with the welfare of the individual game herds. On some areas less hunting would be necessary, while on others it would be in- creased. Ultimately with wise management, the optimum of numbers would be reached and under a system of regulated hunting the perpetuation of game would be assured and the needs of the sportsmen, recreationists, and big game lovers would be provided for to the highest degree possible. THE NEW PUBLIC DOMAIN UCH has been said in recent years about the public domain remnant of the original public land wealth of the United States, comprising the culled over leavings after the more desirable lands had been privately acquired. Its final disposition is a problem of great mag- nitude. But there is a new and somewhat similar problem that is of growing importance. Forest land from which the original timber crop has been removed is gradually going through the stages of tax delin- quency until, as county land, it becomes a new public domain-a new no man's land -since the counties are doing no more with it than has the government undertaken hitherto with the old public domain. There are some distinct differences. The old public domain is constant in size or, if anything, slowly diminishing. The new public domain is growing very rapidly. The old public domain is the the poorer land,' the new public domain was originally the best of the timber producing lands. M. H. WOLFF.

Page 14 text:

BIG GAME MANAGEMENT ORANGE A. OLSEN 171319907507 Of Grcazing, U. S. Forest Service, Region 1, GAME management and game conservation are synonymous, meaning one and the same thing, that is, both involve propagation, protection, and a wise utilization of the sur- plus. Game managers endeavor to get away from guess work and to build on facts and make common sense application of scientific knowledge. The game manager, when confronted with a problem of management, soon finds that it is extremely ramifying and frequently complex. He does not only have to deal with the habits and needs of the particular game animal in- volved, but also has to consider its relation to man. Civilization has pushed out into the most remote sections of our game country and a correlation of land use by man and game must be worked out. Use by man means his utilization of land resources-forage, timber, watershed, agriculture, and recreation. Defi- nite information concerning the animal to be conserved is important g its life history should be well understoodg also, at least, its approxi- mate numbers, rate of increase and losses should be known. Information is needed on diseases and the effects of parasites internally and externally. What game animals eat and the amount are also valuable data is correlat- ing range use by them with that of livestock. It is evident that those charged with the re- sponsibility of managing game resources should have broad training, both technical and practical, in many of the sciences. The bett-er they are versed in biology, ecology, forestry, range management, livestock, agriculture, eco- nomics, and so forth, the better qualified they will be to handle game problems. Training and experience are essential to see the broad picture of how game conservation should fit in with our whole economic structure. Correlat- ing land use by game with that of forage sup- ply, livestock, recreation, private lands, and the public is a big undertaking. EARLY CONSERVATION The value of wild life and the need for its proper conservation are being realized and ap- preciated more and more as the years pass. Never before has the interest been greater interest is growing. More thought, and this time and money are being devoted to the prop- protection, and utilization of wild agation, life than ever before. The early trappers, explorers, and settlers who came West found an abundance of game on lands wherever conditions were favorable. The buffalo and antelope numbered thousands on the plainsg deer and elk were abundant in the foothills, valleys, and some mountainous regionsg mountain sheep, goats and moose oc- cupied ranges in reasonable numbers where the environment was to their liking. That which is plentiful is seldom appre- ciated. Game exploitation resulted. In a few short years the buffalo became strangers to the plains and the antelope were seldom seen. Deer and elk in reduced numbers were crowded into the back country. Not much is recorded about the mountain sheep, goat and moose, but undoubtedly civilization adversely affected their numbers. ' The numbers of game animals decreased rapidly and in many instances disappeared entirely. To save them from extinction, State Fish and Game Departments were createdg laws were enacted to restrict the kill. Game preserves were established and serious effort was made to save the remnants. Public senti- ment was generally favorable to big game. Elk plantings were made to restock depleted areas. Control of predatory animals was un- dertaken by the States, Federal Government, stockmen, and sportsmen. In many places throughout the intermountain region several species of our big game in response to this protection, have made a very pleasing come back, especially during the past ten years. On the National Forests of the West, elk, deer, and antelope have shown excellent recovery. Mountain sheep and goats seem to be gradu- ally decreasing, while moose are making nor- mal increases in some sections. GAME MANAGEMENT ESSENTIAL This protection, admirable as it has been and is, has in some few instances not worked to the best advantage, even to the game them- selves. In a few places, big game, especially deer, elk, and to a lesser extent antelope, have increased to such density that they have either of themselves or in conjunction with livestock, so depleted their ranges that heavy losses in game have resulted, particularly on winter ranges which are usually limited in area and grazing capacity. On some units game have become so abundant that stockmen complain against the numbers of deer and elk and main- tain they are being crowded out. Game fre- quently trespass in excessive numbers on pri- vate lands, consuming forage to which the land owner is entitled. Occasionally game ani- mals do considerable damage to farm crops, orchards, and gardens. Evidently such conditions are not to the best interests of game. It is poor management that permits game to increase beyond its food supply causing losses from starvation and in- viting parasites and disease. Those who have seen dead elk and deer scattered over depleted ranges, due to starvation, are indelibly im- pressed that too much protection can reach a stage where it is worse than not enough. It is difficult to reestablish game on a depleted range. Management based on the year-long 13

Page 16 text:

THE PLACE OF CHEMICAL RESEARCH IN FORESTRY E. C. JAHN Associate Professor of Forestry THE proper utilization of the products of the forest is just as important a part of the science of forestry as is the growing of timber. Forest utilization has concerned it- self primarily with lumber and timbers which, both in quantity, as represented by board feet of wood consumed, and in value, are our most important forest products. These products possess in general the properties of the origi- nal wood in the tree and, because of these properties, such as strength, lightness, elas- gm: WEB static complex structure is still the subject of intensive investigation. Woon OFFERS MUCH STUDY Neither botanically nor chemically is wood a homogeneous substance. Botanically it is made up of a variety of cells, most of which are spindle-shaped fibers about 1 mm. long in hardwoods and 1.5 to 9 mm. long in conifers or softwoods. Communication exists between most of the cells in wood by means of pits in tk The lfVood Conversion Laboratory is oi Valuable Addition to the Idaho School of Forest'ry. ticity, and workability, they are particularly useful for structural purposes. There are, however, many very important and valuable forest products which no longer resemble the wood from which they were ob- tained. The wood is the raw material for these products which are manufactured principally by chemical processes. Wood as a raw ma- terial is becoming increasingly important as a basis for chemical and technological proc- esses which furnish man with many useful articles. First let us briefiy consider the raw ma- terial-wood. Wood is organic tissue pro- duced by biochemical and physiological proc- esses and is, therefore, a complex substance. A knowledge of the chemistry of wood is fun- damental to its utilization by any of the chemi- cal processes. Of the mechanism of the growth and synthesis of the various components of wood we know practically nothing, Our knowledge of wood is only of the product as has been elaborated by the plant, and yet this their walls. The cells are all cemented to one another by a common medial layer known as lamella. This cementing layer or the middle matrix is made up of a complex material not clearly defined, and known as lignin. The cell walls are composed mostly of a strong tough substance, cellulose, together with hemi- celluloses and some lignin. The cell wall en- closes a lumen or central cavity which con- tains extraneous material, since these cavities function in the storage of food, the transporta- tion of food and water, and in other life proc- esses. The scope of this paper does not permit dis- cussion of the chemistry of these major com- ponents of wood. Although the chemistry of wood still offers many baffling problems, the gradual unfolding of these mysteries adds to human knowledge and in turn to the increased usefulness of wood to man. There are several important chemical in- dustries which depend upon the forest for their raw material and yet do not utilize wood. For