Land Use and Wildlife Resources (1970) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
2 Wildlife Values in a Changing World
2 Wildlife Values in a Changing World
Pages 29-54
The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.
From page 29... ...
Management in the public interest must be based on an understanding of our long~term predispositions, changing social and environmental conditions, and the best possible appraisal of expectations for the future. This chapter reviews wildlife values as a means of defining realistic objectives for handling wildlife resources in the modern world.
|
From page 30... ...
Except for rich collecting grounds on bays and estuaries, half a dozen or at most a dozen families could make full use of the food supply within convenient foraging distance. Vicissitudes of the food-gathering life are evident in the account of Alvar Nunez, survivor of the Narvaez expedition, which met disaster on the coast of east Texas in 1528.
|
From page 31... ...
The highly developed hunting cultures that were dependent on the Pleistocene megafauna about 10,000 years ago were mentioned in Chapter 1. That stone-age men dealt effectively with every kind of big game, including mammoths and mastodons, is evident.
|
From page 32... ...
By converting wild species into forms specialized to artificial conditions that only man can maintain, we have mass-produced and stabilized the food supply, thus broadening the resource base upon which human populations can expand. More particularly, it is evident that men can be most abundant if they are willing to restrict their diet and live primarily on such grains as wheat or rice.
|
From page 33... ...
Areas not so treated are regarded as "idle," their existence being in some degree a reflection on the industry of potential entrepreneurs. Inherent wilderness values and even the most patent beauties of nature have been held in slight regard by the settlers and developers of land.
|
From page 34... ...
In addition, frequent movements to fresh ranges may have been beneficial in terms of disease epidemiology. The huge flights made it necessary to find each year, somewhere in the East, extensive forests bearing thousands of tons of mast, as well as abundant berry crops for late-summer feeding in the North.
|
From page 35... ...
35 Only in the far north of Canada, in Wood Buffalo National Park, do major numbers of buffalo survive today in the presence of their natural predator, the wolf (Fuller, 19621. Even there, conditions are altered by a heavy incidence of introduced disease.
|
From page 36... ...
This species was especially vulnerable to shooting, and large numbers were taken on the prairies for both sport and the market. The arctic nesting ground of the eskimo curlew was largely undisturbed, and in late summer there was a general movement of old and young southeastward to the Maritime Provinces, where great flocks fed on the abundant berry crops of coastal muskegs.
|
From page 37... ...
In the absence of such measures, the southern fur seals disappeared from most of their former ranges. Studies of rare and vanishing wildlife now are going forward in the Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife with a view to salvaging the remnant populations of specialized wilderness creatures needing emer
|
From page 38... ...
There seem to be no local economic incentives for the preservation of the Texas coastal prairie chicken and the Attwater prairie chicken. Continued poisoning of rodents on remaining grasslands could destroy the last remaining black-footed ferrets.
|
From page 39... ...
In 1967, a year of low prices, the annual summary of the U.S. Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife ( 1968)
|
From page 40... ...
recreation has permeated the Federal land fabric affecting vitally all but a few classifications." The trends in public demand and government programs were sufficiently clear at that time for the report to assert: It will be seen that, while belated in some respects, the reservation and administration of public lands for aesthetic enjoyment, historic or scientific appreciation, or economic use has now become an established Federal policy. With regard to unique scenery or vegetation, exceptional animal life such as big game, or wilderness areas: These are assets which man cannot provide but which he can preserve and enjoy to supplement and complement the more intensive forms of popular recreation incident to congested communities.
|
From page 41... ...
There was an obviously enhanced interest in providing for national parks, seashores, trails, wilderness, rivers, reservoir areas, wildlife refuges, and endangered species. Conservation of the environment through pollution control and other means, and the preservation of natural beauty, .
|
From page 42... ...
Difficulties in Acquiring Land In 1967 the Bureau of Outdoor Recreation reported on the rapid escalation of land prices affecting acquisition programs for recreation. The bureau predicted the inadequacy of the Land and Water Conservation Fund to meet outdoor recreation needs in the next decade and stated: There has been a steady upward trend in land values almost everywhere in the Nation.
|
From page 43... ...
Thus, it might be said that substantial minorities engage in these sports, which are less casual than some other outdoor activities since they usually require licenses and special gear and are subject to definite regulation. Through license fees and taxes on supplies and equipment, hunters and fishermen have helped support both state and federal programs for preserving and managing wildlife.
|
From page 44... ...
Since this is now measurable, it is frequently cited in justification for properly maintaining and managing the renewable wildlife resources involved. It should be pointed out, however, that overem
|
From page 45... ...
L McAtee made an evaluation that is as good today as it was when it was written: The aggregate of wildlife on agricultural lands of the United States is large and its estimated value is very impressive.
|
From page 46... ...
On this basis it is assumed that the appreciation and use of wildlife values will require an educational effort applied to both the public and the landowner, and that the returns in public benefits are worth the effort. It may also be inferred that the demand for free public hunting will continue, at least in "low-pressure" areas, but as a minimum condition its perpetuation will require the effective protection of landowner rights.
|
From page 47... ...
On the other hand, the easily measured dollar income from recreation belongs to the purveyors of permits, goods, and services. The applicability of such logic may be seen in the results of a recent survey of big game hunting in British Columbia (Bowden and Pearse, 19681.
|
From page 48... ...
Many other people both inside and outside Canada can hunt big game in British Columbia, and an even greater number can enjoy seeing the animals in their native setting whenever they wish. There are few standards against which the last two values can be appraised, but the values unquestionably are increasing as human numbers increase.
|
From page 49... ...
discussion of multipurpose reservoirs that may be constructed at the expense of choice scenic canyons, whitewater streams, and the valley ranges of big game herds (see also Chapter 31. He mentioned the characteristic attitudes of sponsors and construction agencies and noted that .
|
From page 50... ...
However, the value of a day of swimming may be very much less than a day of quality trout or salmon fishing, or a day of hunting big game which may be dependent upon the prospective reservoir bottom for wintering range, etc. This would follow because of the relative abundance of alternatives available for indulging the former, and thus the low value one would place on an additional opportunity if alternatives were readily available; and the relative scarcity and thus high value placed on preserving the latter because of the increasing rareness of opportunities available and the absence of close substitutes.
|
From page 51... ...
In an evaluation of the wildlife resources of the Tennessee Valley, Emerson (1968) stated that the enjoyment of wildlife is inversely proportional to the artificiality of the situation.
|
From page 52... ...
1968. Non-resident big game hunting and the guiding industry in British Columbia: an economic survey.
|
From page 53... ...
1957. Toward responsible government: an economic appraisal of federal investment in water resource programs.
|
From page 54... ...
Joint Committee on Recreational Survey of Federal Lands, American Forestry Association and National Parks Association. National Conference on Outdoor Recreation Washington, D.C.
|
Key Terms
This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More
information on Chapter Skim is available.