FIGURE 235.—Deer in a forest area—a type of the wild life that may constitute an important financial and recreational asset in forest production
WILD Animals Affect Forest Production in Many Important Ways
Bits of information have been gathered here and there regarding the relation of wild animals to forests, studies of special problems have been maae that throw some light on the intricate and important relationships that exist between them, and enough has been learned to show the urgent need for the application of modern research methods. Within the past year a far-reaching step was taken in this direction by congressional enactment of the McSweeney-McNary bill, which authorizes carefully planned attack upon forestry and wild-life problems. The measure contemplates that coordination and continuity of research necessary to obtain fundamental and permanent results.
In any program of forest administration knowledge of the numbers and activities of wild animals is of outstanding importance. Their interrelationships are intricate and vary greatly according to locality, season, and other factors, including the activities of man. Many animals are beneficial through their distribution and planting of seeds, working the soil, or destroying injurious insects and rodents.
Bats stand out as examples of forest-inhabiting creatures that, so far as known, have no economically injurious habits but are of incalculable value as destroyers of nocturnal insects, including many that are injurious to forest trees. On the other hand, squirrels, chipmunks, and mice may in some areas prove of distinct value as natural distributors of acorns, nuts, and other tree seeds, but they may also at times consume practically the entire crop of seeds and thus prevent natural reproduction, or dig up and destroy all the seeds planted for reforestation purposes. Rabbits, wood rats, and porcupines have been known to destroy 50 per cent or more of the seedling trees on large planted areas. Where porcupines are abundant they may kill or deform & high percentage of the trees and thus ruin them for the market. Such burrowing animals as pocket gophers, by feeding on the root systems of plants or covering plants with dirt thrown out of burrows, may become seriously destructive. Secondary injury to the vegetation cover may occur by the trampling of grazing stock on areas undermined by burrowing species. The physical condition of the soil, however, may be improved for the germination of seeds of trees and forage plants and its water-storing capacity increased.
Prairie dogs, ground squirrels, and jack rabbits frequently consume or otherwise destroy 25 to 50 per cent or more of the yield over many millions of acres of forest land and compete with livestock for the most palatable and nutritious grasses. By consuming grass and destroying grass seed, these rodents interfere with improved grazing practices. Removal of the grass cover also makes conditions favorable for destructive erosion, which renders worthless great areas of otherwise valuable grazing land within forests.
Various kinds of predacious animals may cause heavy losses of livestock and game in forest areas, but may also help to repress such injurious species as rodents and to dispose of sick individuals of game birds and animals.
Game animals constitute important products of forested areas. Their presence, however, involves problems of protection to forest trees, browse, and forage, as well as a proper adjustment in their numbers and range not only for their own well-being but in the interests of livestock production and other local or national industries. Excessive increase in numbers of deer in certain localities in recent years has afforded striking examples of starvation, suffering, and loss of animals, associated with serious damage to their food plants and to crops and orchards in adjacent agricultural areas. (Fig. 235.)
Game animals as a forest resource must be considered also from the standpoint of their recreational and their food values. A steadily increasing public interest in the recreational value of wild life is manifested not only by hunters but also by great numbers of persons who find enjoyment, mental stimulus, and physical recuperation in getting acquainted with the ways of the wild creatures of the forests. From the strictly economic standpoint, the more than 700,000 deer estimated to be on the national forests in 1927, reckoned at $20 a head, would give a total value of $14,000,000 in meat for human consumption, an item well deserving consideration.
Results obtained in the study by the Bureau of Biological Survey of the elk herd in Jackson Hole, Wyo., have demonstrated the value of research in obtaining information regarding their numbers, feeding and breeding habits, seasonal movements, diseases, parasites, and natural enemies as a foundation on which to establish permanent policies for the preservation of one of the most important herds of forest big-game animals in the United States. Conditions there are in many respects typical, and the results obtained and the methods of investigation that prove practicable there will be helpful elsewhere.
The place of fur-bearing animals in forest production is not yet adequately known, as no comprehensive studies have been made of their numbers, factors affecting their abundance, or of possibilities for local increase or for transplanting to other suitable regions. The establishment of beavers, muskrats, and other fur bearers in forested areas and on cut-over land affords prospect of important financial returns through the utilization of relatively worthless timber and other food supplies. Beaver dams should assist materially in the regulation of water run-off and stream flow, which are important in preventing floods and fires, conserving water for plant growth and emergency irrigation, and improving conditions for the production of fishes. The importance of fur-producing animals as a source of revenue from the forests is apparent, but more complete information is needed regarding their relationships and the conditions under which they may be made profitable without detriment to other forest interests.
The pioneer period of apparently inexhaustible resources of forest and wild life with its measureless waste and destruction of a priceless heritage is past. Depletion of this great reservoir of natural assets has reached a point where far-sighted and effective action based on a knowledge of the facts must be taken. Conditions are now ripe and the public mind is ready for constructive research that will lay a sure foundation on which wild-life production as an adjunct to forestry can be established and developed on a permanently sound and profitable footing.