at least 50 percent of the $2 stamp spent for protection and enforcement of the migratory bird laws. I have been informed that there are approximately 72 enforcement officers, namely, United States game management agents, in the United States. The total number of this force is inadequate and it is hoped that sufficient funds can be added to at least triple this number, which will then be a small group for the United States. Yours very truly, HALLIE HAMM, Director, Division of Game and Fish. GAME, FISH, AND OYSTER COMMISSION, Senator HOMER FERGUSON, Chairman, Subcommittee on Wildlife Conservation, Senate Office Building, Washington, D. C. DEAR SENATOR FERGUSON: The game, fish, and oyster commission regrets its inability to be represented at the hearing on S. 2482, set for 10 a. m., April 26. This letter is sent to you in the hopes that it will serve to present our views on the merits of this bill. At a regular quarterly meeting of the game, fish, and oyster commission, held in Austin, Tex., January 15, 1948, a resolution was unanimously adopted supporting S. 2482, and especially that portion of the bill providing for an increase in price to $2 for the migratory bird hunting stamp. We sincerely urge you to give favorable consideration to this measure. Sincerely yours, H. D. DODGEN, Executive Secretary. Mr. J. H. MACOMBER, Jr. STATE OF VERMONT, Chief Clerk, Committee on Expenditures in the Executive Departments, Senate Office Building, Washington, D. C. DEAR MR. MACOMBER: I regret that an absence from my office made it impossible for me to prepare a statement to submit to you for inclusion in the testimony for the hearing conducted by Senator Ferguson. Personally I am very much in favor of the $2 duck-stamp bill and I trust that in addition to an increase in the price of the duck stamp we may have an increase in the amount of supervision and patrol Federal refuges are given. In this area it is hard to convince duck hunters that the Government is trying to do anything when the emphasis continues to be placed on midcontinental and western flyways. Of course I realize that it takes ducks to make more ducks and refuges are extremely necessary. With the hope that we will have the pleasure of seeing you the next time you are in town, I am Sincerely, GEORGE W. DAVIS, Director. Mr. J. H. MACOMBER, Jr., STATE OF WEST VIRGINIA, Chief Clerk, Committee on Expenditures in the Executive Departments, Senate Office Building, Washington, D. C. DEAR MR. MACOMBER: While it was not possible for the conservation commission to have a representative present in person at the hearings scheduled to open on April 26, 1948, on Senate bill 2482—providing among other things an increase from $1 to $2 for the migratory bird hunting stamp, it is entirely in accord with the provisions thereof where the proposed increase is concerned. It is my understanding that the bill further provides that as much as 25 percent of the current waterfowl revenues may be designated for the administration of waterfowl-management areas and opened to public shooting at the discretion of the Secretary of the Interior and under regulations promulgated by him. Under these conditions the commission is glad to recommend the bill in its present form. We shall be interested in any report of developments on this legislation which you may care to furnish us from time to time. Čordially yours, R. S. HARRIS, Acting Director. Hon. A. WILLIS ROBERTSON, United States Senator, STATE OF WISCONSIN, CONSERVATION DEPARTMENT, Madison 2, April 23, 1948. Senate Office Building, Washington, D. C. DEAR SENATOR ROBERTSON: The Wisconsin Conservation Commission has voted unanimously to urge your approval of S. 2482. I know that it will be appreciated by the commission if you will incorporate their vote in your printed hearings. Very truly yours, ERNEST SWIFT, Conservation Director. Senator FERGUSON. We are recessed without a date at the present time. (Whereupon, at 12:30 p. m., the subcommittee adjourned to meet again upon the call of the chairman.) The following was submitted for the record. SUMMARY OF 1948 REPORT, FISH AND WILDLIFE Service (Prepared by Senator A. Willis Robertson) The Fish and Wildlife Service controlled as of June 30, 1947, approximately 18,598,329 acres of land comprising some 257 refuges, wildlife management areas, and administrative sites. Of the total acreage, 1,307,195 acres was purchased by the Service at a cost of $8,689,447; 428,986 acres was acquired by gift; 16,405,274 acres is administered under Executive or public land order, and 456,874 acres is administered under lease agreements. Sale of hunting licenses of all types, by the 48 States, during the year ending June 30, 1947, reached a new high of 12,066,763. License sales have increased over the years, and the increase has been especially sharp since the war. Sales during the fiscal year 1947 (the last year for which complete returns are available) exceeded those of the previous year by 2,212,450. With this tremendous increase in hunting pressure, it is obvious that the States must exert the maximum effort toward wildlife restoration and management if wildlife populations are to be maintained at levels which will produce adequate shootable surpluses. The production of wildlife crops sufficient to satisfy reasonable expectations of the constantly growing army of hunters will require maximum production by wildlife habitats. Revenue from the sale of migratory bird hunting stamps, at $1 each, amounted to $2,016,819, an increase of $291,314 over the preceding year. Ten percent of these funds are used for the printing of the stamps, administrative expenses, and enforcement of the Migratory Bird Hunting Stamp Act and other acts for the protection of wildlife. The location, acquisition, development, and maintenance of national wildlife refuges is one of the most important responsibilities of the Fish and Wildlife Service in protecting and managing the migratory bird resources. Approximately 200 of these refuges, with 3,213,658 acres, are designed primarily to protect migratory waterfowl. Planned protection of brood stock in the system of national wildlife refuges is necessary for annual repopulation of nesting grounds in the United States, Canada, and Alaska. The present system of waterfowl refuges, while protecting sizable brood stock, is not adequate to compensate for the combined effect of factors, including hunting, which govern the seasonal abundance of ducks and geese. For the past 3 years, 9 of the 11 new refuges established have been in the South or the West, where additional wintering protection is most needed. The Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration (the Pittman-Robertson program) accelerated tremendously since July 1, 1947. The expansion of program activities is due to greatly increased appropriations for the fiscal year 1948. For the first time the amount appropriated was equal to the excise taxes collected on sporting arms and ammunition during the preceding fiscal year. This amount exceeded $9,000,000, and the resultant appropriation was nearly four times that of 1947, when $2,500,000 was appropriated. With the increased appropriation, large-scale restoration measures became possible. Projects formerly operating with skeleton forces were fully manned and operations are being conducted on a large scale. This applies to all types of projects, and is especially applicable to development activities that do not involve the construction of improvements. Major emphasis on construction programs has been restricted by the 20-percent limitation on use of appropriated funds for such activities. (The limitation was incorporated in the appropriation language. It was subsequently ruled that earth moving was construed as construction. This interpretation further limited such activities as impoundments to create and improve waterfowl areas. The States are urging that this limitation be withheld from the appropriation bill for the fiscal year 1949. Migratory waterfowl are in more urgent need of restoration than any other class of wildlife.) The amount of the Federal aid appropriation for the year beginning July 1, 1948, is not known at this time. The President's budget as presented to the Congress specified an amount for the Federal aid in wildlife restoration program equal to the sum collected from the excise tax on sporting arms and ammunition during the year ending June 30, 1948. On July 24, 1946, the Pittman-Robertson Federal Aid to Wildlife Restoration Act was amended to include maintenance projects. Such maintenance must be on projects previously completed with Pittman-Robertson funds and amounts expended cannot exceed 25 percent of the total amount apportioned to any State. The act was further amended so that no State will receive less than one-half of 1 percent, or more than 5 percent, of the total amount apportioned to all States. Every State is now eligible for participation in the Pittman-Robertson Federal aid to wildlife restoration program. Nevada has not taken an active part, but became eligible to share in the benefits of the program late in the 1947 fiscal year. It is expected that this State will be an active participant in the 1948 fiscal year. Puerto Rico, Hawaii, Alaska, and the Virgin Islands had active projects operating during the 1947 fiscal year. Wildlife research.-Wildlife investigations are conducted in two large laboratories at Patuxent Research Refuge, Md., and Denver, Colo.; also in a number of smaller field stations scattered throughout the country. The two large laboratories cover a wide range of subject matter, while the majority of smaller field stations are restricted to a specific field, such as waterfowl management investigations or investigations of wildlife management problems on public lands. A series of field and laboratory investigations have been made on the effects of new insecticides on wildlife and fish. Laboratory studies with DDT have shown the order of susceptibility of major vertebrate groups. Fish were found to be the most susceptible of all groups. Reptiles and amphibians are somewhat more resistant. Birds, then mammals, follow in that order. DDT when compounded in oils was observed to be three times more toxic to quail than when administered in dry form. It was found to be more critical if the food intake was reduced. Intensive management studies of farm and wildlife are in progress at the Patuxent Research Refuge, Md., where two experimental farms are in the process of development. Regular wildlife inventories of the two tracts are being taken and it is expected that in approximately 5 years significant results will be available. The Wildlife Management Institute and the United States Soil Conservation Service are cooperating in this long-term experiment. The work of the Soil Conservation Service is the best basis yet provided for the development of practical wildlife management measures. Soil conservation districts in the various States are a ready-made means of applying workable techniques to land. Effective liaison has been established with regional biologists of the Soil Conservation Service, and it is expected that project biologists of the Fish and Wildlife Service will be placed in each of the regional offices of the Soil Conservation Service to take advantage of the excellent research opportunities their work affords. The Department of Agriculture has indicated its desire to have such cooperation. Improvement of areas for waterfowl.-The wildlife refuge program of the Fish and Wildlife Service and cooperating agencies supplies needed protection_for waterfowl at strategic points throughout the principal migration routes. But, in the face of constantly increasing hunting populations and further drainage of marshes and shallow lakes for farming purposes, it is essential that numerous small wildlife areas between these larger refuges be developed. Nutritional deficiency as a factor in regulating game populations. Intensive research on bobwhite quail at Patuxent has demonstrated that for wild creatures, as well as domesticated, all the many essential dietary factors must be present at levels to bill the birds' needs if a species is to thrive. Full crops do not necessarily indicate that the creatures are well fed. Besides water and primary energy and heat-producing factors, at least 11 amino acids, 14 minerals, and 18 vitamins must be available in adequate quantities, and in palatable and familiar form. Without a sufficient amount of vitamin A, quail cannot survive hard winters. Only those birds that have stored up sufficient vitamin A in their livers during the summer and fall and/or have available adequate carotene-containing foods above the snow can hope to survive. Disease investigations.-A true appreciation of the importance of disease relationships between wild-animal forms, man, and domesticated animals has been slow and of comparatively recent development. Relationships which affect the health of man, or the economic production of livestock, were among the first to be recognized and evaluated. As investigations of these relationships progressed, evidence of their importance has become increasingly abundant, until at present, infectious diseases of man and the lower animals receive almost equal attention and are no longer considered separate and independent. Investigation of the disease of wildlife forms is essential for the protection of human health, for economic considerations, and as a necessary part of conservation. Botulism and lead poisoning, worst enemies of migratory waterfowl, have been subjects of intensive study, resulting in many additions to information needed for their prevention or control. Management procedures for making potentially dangerous toxin-producing areas safe have been developed. Methods of treat ment of birds suffering from botulism have been improved with a resulting great increase in the percentage of birds saved. Studies of lead poisoning (from ingested shot) have resulted in new diagnostic procedures for evaluation of this menace to waterfowl. Methods developed for the survey of lead shot concentration in marshes help in the detection and evaluation of areas, dangerous from this standpoint, in making selections of sites for waterfowl refuge development. There is immediate need of investigation (for protection of human health and for economic reasons) of diseases affecting both man and domestic animals which often reach epidemic proportions in the wildlife animal forms. The cooperative wildlife research unit program.-Cooperative wildlife research units have been established in 13 land-grant colleges located across the country in all major land type areas. Over 500 reports of research findings have been published in book, bulletin, popular and technical papers, and thesis form by the units. Approximately 600 men and women have obtained college training in wildlife management in this program. One hundred and ninety-three men have received postgraduate training. These graduates are now employed in 43 of the States, Alaska, Canada, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico by State, Federal, and private wildlife agencies. This training has made available trained personnel that has led to better management of wildlife resources throughout the country. Fisheries. The fishing pressure has continued to increase on inland waters. For the year ending June 30, 1947, 12,620,464 angling licenses were sold in the United States. This does not represent the total number of fishermen. In some States women are not required to obtain a license, and in other States anglers under certain age do not need licenses to fish. Landowners and tenants in some States may fish on their own lands without a license. Altogether, there were probably 20,000,000 people fishing the waters of this country during 1947. Last year more than 3,120,000 anglers fished in waters on lands under the control of the United States Forest Service. Of the visitors to Yellowstone Park in 1947, about 150,000 went fishing. The demands for hatchery-reared fish for stocking purposes have continued to increase. The current application load is about 300 percent greater than the prewar level. The greatest handicap is insufficient funds. To produce as many fish as possible, it has been necessary to neglect the maintenance of buildings, facilities, and equipment. Trucks purchased before the war have high mileages. The average load of fish is worth several hundred dollars, and the lack of first-class equipment for distribution may permit a break-down involving a total loss of the fish carried. Because of the lack of funds, it has been necessary to close some hatcheries in order to provide enough funds to operate others. The major activity on the west coast has been the artificial propagation of Pacific coast salmon. The run of salmon on the Columbia River was greater in 1947 than in 1946, and the count exceeded any in the 10-year period for which records are available. Hatchery facilities and funds were not available to handle all the fish that would result from the eggs that could be taken. Experiments conducted by the Fish and Wildlife Service, the Alabama Polytechnic Institute, and other agencies interested in the advancement of the farmpond program indicate that the large-mouth black bass and bluegill sunfish combination gives best results under most conditions. The farm-pond program has continued to expand. The Service cooperates closely with the Soil Conservation Service and the Agricultural Extension Service in stocking and management of farm ponds created under their auspices. At all trout hatcheries emphasis has been placed upon producing as many legal-sized fish as conditions permit. Production, however, has been retarded by the high cost of fish foods. The greatest handicap in all hatchery operations is lack of funds. |