Abstract
IN the United States, as in other progressive countries, the existence of many wild creatures has been threatened by the appropriation of lands for farming and industrial purposes, the destruction of living places and breeding places, and the gradual disappearance of natural food and cover. To check this decrease of wild-life, the Federal Government passed two years age one of the most beneficial measures of recent years, the Federal Aid to Wild-life Restoration Act, briefly known as the Pittman-Robertson Act of 1937. The co-operative scheme which it envisages is one that might well be adopted in other countries, and a summary of its provisions and explanation of the co-operation which it seeks are now given by Albert M. Day (U.S. Dept. Agric. Misc. Pub. No. 350; 1939). The Act recognizes the fundamental principle that wild-life is linked with the land, and aims at the restoration of suitable environment in which wild birds and mammals may live and multiply. The Federal Government is willing to contribute materially towards this restoration programme, since it is known that individual States have been unable to cope with the situation because of lack of funds. But a State to qualify for a share of the grant—up to 75 per cent of the cost of work performed on approved projects—must have passed laws for the conservation of wild-life, which shall include a prohibition against diverting fees paid by hunters to any other purpose than the administration of the State fish and game department. Already the Act appears to be working effectively. The grand total allocated for conservation projects in 1939 was 1,186,666 dollars, of which State legislatures contributed 296,000 and the Federal Government 890,000 dollars. Some time must elapse before the effect of these widely distributed schemes shows itself on the wild-life population, but there is every reason to think that the result will be gratifying to the naturalist as well as to the sportsman.
Article PDF
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Wild-life Restoration in the United States. Nature 144, 902–903 (1939). https://doi.org/10.1038/144902c0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/144902c0