Click to Return to Beginning		THE NATIONAL PARKS AND EMERGENCY CONSERVATION MEET THE WILD ANIMALS–ENJOY THE FISHING Tree-Framed View of Mount Rainier One of the most fascinating features of the national parks is the opportunity they afford visitors to meet face to face wild animals such as their pioneer forefathers encountered in moving westward from the Atlantic seaboard. Not so many years ago these animals roamed the entire United States in vast herds. Today, outside of zoological parks, there are comparatively few places where they may be viewed, and of these places the national parks take first rank. The park visitors want animal stories, and more animal stories. One that always engenders keen interest is that of the Yellowstone buffalo. Some twenty-odd years ago this animal, which once roamed the plains of the West in countless numbers, had almost disappeared. A few animals were taken into the Yellowstone, formerly a natural range for these great beasts. These animals and the little remnant of the original Yellowstone herds were given protection, with the result that the new herd increased with great rapidity. Several years ago it reached a thousand head, the greatest number that the range in the vicinity of the park buffalo ranch can properly accommodate. Every year since then it has been necessary to give away or otherwise dispose of several hundred surplus animals to keep the buffalo from taking over the administration of the whole park. While telling the story of the buffalo and of the traits and habits of the various other park animals, the ranger naturalists always explain that the national parks and monuments are absolute game sanctuaries. No hunting is permitted in any of them. It is further explained that this absolute ban on the killing of animals within the parks and monuments actually is for the benefit of the hunters, for the wild life thrives and multiplies under the protection afforded in these breeding places, and eventually there is an overflow from the parks to the adjoining territory. In relating the story of the restocking of the Yellowstone with buffalo, and also with antelope-another plains animal that had almost disappeared-emphasis is laid on the fact that no non-native species of animal, or plant for that matter, is ever introduced into a national park with the possible exception of game fish of other localities which occasionally are placed in otherwise barren waters in some park lake. Bears are a delight to the tourists, except to those who insist upon becoming too familiar with them and get nipped or scratched in reproof. It is often said by the park people that the quality which makes humans so enjoy the antics of the bears is that bruin is so very human in many of his reactions. In a number of the parks bear-feeding grounds provide an interesting and amusing spectacle. To these places are carted the left overs from the lodge and hotel kitchens. The bears become accustomed to the feeding time and congregate each evening for a hand-out of "combination salad." Many of the bears, sometimes singly and sometimes a mother bear with cubs, loiter along the roads to beg candy from the passing motorists. Feeding these bears is a harmless pastime, so long as the food is thrown. It should never be fed directly from the hand, nor should one ever pretend to have food to make a bear pose for a picture. For the bear dislikes a practical joke as much as does his human brother. Glimpses of deer, elk, moose, antelope, and mountain sheep add much to the pleasure of a park trip. There are many smaller animals which provide much amusement, notably the little "picket pins", or ground squirrels, which sit up and beg for food and often climb into a visitor's lap when tactfully coaxed. For the bird lover also the parks are a paradise. A bird conservation problem that now faces the National Park Service is helping to save the trumpeter swan from extinction. This bird, practically extinct a few years ago, has recently found the Yellowstone region a favorable nesting place, and the National Park Service is doing everything possible to protect the breeding places and the young birds until they become strong enough to fight their own battles. During the last two years a remarkable increase in the number of these swans has been noted. A Horseback Party in Yosemite National Park Although hunting is strictly banned in the national parks, fishing is permitted under regulations that insure against depletion of the fish supply. No fishing licenses are required by the Federal Government, but in several of the parks where the State laws prevail it is necessary to obtain a State fishing license. This applies particularly to Yosemite, Sequoia, Lassen Volcanic, General Grant, Grand Teton, Grand Canyon, Acadia, Wind Cave, Zion, and Bryce Canyon. The waters of several of the parks contain excellent native game fish, while others at the time of park establishment were practically barren. To insure good fishing, many millions of eyed eggs and fingerlings are planted each year in park lakes and streams through the cooperation of Federal and State fish hatcheries. As a result of these activities there has been a marked improvement in fishing conditions, with a resultant larger catch per capita of visitors last year than previously reported. The best fishing, of course, is in the lakes and streams away from the main motor roads. Even along the highways, however, the fish are plentiful, but they also are educated. Constant fishing by amateur fishermen accustom the fish to most forms of artificial bait, so that they become wary–a fact which adds to the enjoyment of the skilled fisherman. Even the Grand Canyon, in Arizona's semidesert, is fast becoming an angler's paradise through the stocking of Bright Angel and several other creeks. The large fish hatchery operated at Yellowstone Lake in Yellowstone National Park is a great attraction to visitors. Special guides take parties through at stated hours, and observation platforms and aquaria are so arranged that the entire operation may be easily studied. The few regulations laid down by the Park Service concerning fishing are all designed to aid fishing conditions. The number and size of fish that may be taken in any one day is limited, according to the supply in a particular body of water. Sometimes, to protect newly planted young fish or promote the come-back of an overfished lake or stream, fishing in particular waters is temporarily suspended. For the convenience of fishermen who visit the various national parks, the stores in these reservations carry in stock and have on sale each season a large quantity of appropriate fishing tackle and other necessary equipment.
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