Part 19

Much more remains to be done. We now have these forest reservations, refuges where the timber and its wild denizens should be safe from destruction. What are we going to do with them? The mere formal declaration that they have been set aside will contribute but little toward this safety. It will prevent the settlement of the regions, but will not of itself preserve either the timber or the game on them. The various national parks are watched and patrolled by Federal troops, but even for them no provisions of law exist by which those who violate the regulations laid down for their care may be punished. The forest reservations are absolutely unprotected. Although set aside by presidential proclamation, they are without government and without guards. Timber-thieves may still strip the mountain-sides of the growing trees, and poachers may still kill the game without fear of punishment.

This should not be so. If it was worth while to establish these reservations, it is worth while to protect them. A general law providing for the adequate guarding of all such national possessions should be enacted by Congress, and wherever it may be necessary such Federal laws should be supplemented by laws of the States in which the reservations lie. The timber and the game ought to be made the absolute property of the government, and it should be constituted a punishable offense to appropriate such property within the limits of the reservation. The game and the timber on a reservation should be regarded as government property, just as are the mules and the cordwood at an army post. If it is a crime to take the latter, it should be a crime to plunder a forest reservation.

The national parks and forest reservations which already are, or by proper protection may become, great game preserves are those given in the list below. In these reservations is to be found to-day every species of large game known to the United States, and the proper protection of the reservations means the perpetuating in full supply of all these indigenous mammals. If this care is provided no species of American large game need ever become absolutely extinct; and intelligent effort for game protection may well be directed toward securing through national legislation the policing of forest preserves by timber and game wardens.

NATIONAL PARKS.

=Yellowstone=, in Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho.

=Yosemite=, in California.

=Grant=, in California, included in Sierra Forest Reserve.

=Sequoia=, in California, included in Sierra Forest Reserve.

FOREST RESERVATIONS,

Created under Section 24 of the Act of Congress of March 3, 1891 (26 Stat., 1095)--showing the locality of the reservations and the dates of the President's proclamations creating the same. Complete to March 20, 1893.

ALASKA.

=Afognak Forest and Fish-Culture Reserve.= Afognak Island and its adjacent bays and rocks and territorial waters, including among others the Sea Lion and Sea Otter Islands. Reserved under Sections 14 and 24, Act of March 3, 1891. Proclamation issued December 24, 1892.

ARIZONA.

=Grand Canyon Forest Reserve.= In Coconino County. Estimated area, 2893 square miles; 1,851,520 acres. Proclamation issued February 20, 1893.

CALIFORNIA.

=San Gabriel Timber-Land Reserve.= In Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties. Estimated area, 868 square miles; 555,520 acres. Proclamation issued December 20, 1892.

=Sierra Forest Reserve.= In Mono, Mariposa, Fresno, Tulare, Inyo, and Kern counties. Estimated area, 6400 square miles; 4,096,000 acres. Proclamation issued February 14, 1893.

=San Bernardino Forest Reserve.= In San Bernardino County. Estimated area, 1152 square miles; 737,280 acres. Proclamation issued February 25, 1893.

=Trabuco Canyon Reserve.= In Orange County. Estimated area, 78 square miles; 49,920 acres. Proclamation issued February 25, 1893.

COLORADO.

=White River Plateau Timber-Land Reserve.= In Routt, Rio Blanco, Garfield, and Eagle counties. Estimated area, 1672 square miles; 1,198,080 acres. Proclamation issued October 16, 1891.

=Pike's Peak Timber-Land Reserve.= In El Paso County. Estimated area, 288 square miles; 184,320 acres. Proclamation issued February 11, 1892; supplemental proclamation, March 18, 1892.

=Plum Creek Timber-Land Reserve.= In Douglas County. Estimated area, 280 square miles; 179,200 acres. Proclamation issued June 23, 1892.

=The South Platte Forest Reserve.= In Park, Jefferson, Summit, and Chaffee counties. Estimated area, 1068 square miles; 683,520 acres. Proclamation issued December 9, 1892.

=Battlement Mesa Forest Reserve.= In Garfield, Mesa, Pitkin, Delta, and Gunnison counties. Estimated area, 1341 square miles; 858,240 acres. Proclamation issued December 24, 1892.

NEW MEXICO.

=The Pecos River Forest Reserve.= In Santa Fe, San Miguel, Rio Arriba, and Taos counties. Estimated area, 486 square miles; 311,040 acres. Proclamation issued January 11, 1892.

OREGON.