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Show CHAPTER NINE Fish and Wildlife Resources FISH AND WILDLIFE on the public lands, both game and nongame species, constitute an important national resource. Although about 37,000,000 hunting and fishing licenses, applying to public and private lands alike, were sold in the United States in 1967, the fish and wildlife on the public lands have great significance and meaning beyond that form of recreation. Millions of people enjoy photographing wildlife, or observing and enjoying birds and animals as a part of their camping, hiking, picnicking or other outdoor activity. The importance of these noncon-sumptive values will increase in the future. In addition to reviewing the policies, laws, practices, and procedures applicable to lands administered by the traditional public land management agencies, the Commission was specifically charged to give equal attention to the Fish and Wildlife Refuge and Game Range System. There are 26.6 million acres of land under the jurisdiction of the Fish and Wildlife Service of the Department of the Interior.1 Over 17 million acres of those lands are set aside and administered primarily for resident game species, with which our review is primarily concerned. The other nine million acres are largely in migratory bird refuges. Policies and programs of the United States under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act2 were not considered, since Federal land ownership is of minor importance to development. However, policies applicable to resident wildlife on the Federal refuge lands established in support of the Migratory Bird program are included in this chapter. Our review focused on those states where public lands make up a sizable part of the wildlife habitat. Almost all of Alaska's 365 million acres of land are wildlife 1 Of the total acreage, 23.2 million acres is public domain land and 3.1 million acres acquired. 2 16 U.S.C. §§ 703-711 (1964). habitat of one kind or another, and 348 million acres of this area are still in Federal ownership. Some of the largest caribou and moose herds in North America use the public lands in Alaska. The marshes and muskeg and the river deltas of Alaska are the summer nesting areas for millions of North America's migratory waterfowl. The streams and rivers that flow to the sea are the spawning runs for much of the North Pacific salmon fishery. In the lower 48 states, we concentrated on 20 states where public land constitutes 6 percent or more of the area. This included the eleven most western coterminous states where over 90 percent of the public lands (excluding Alaska) are located. Of the Federal land in those 20 states, 315 million acres are classed as big game habitat. These lands provide the principal habitat for between 40 and 48 percent of the big game populations in those states. Nearly all of the elk, bighorn sheep, mountain goat, moose, and wild turkey in these states are primarily dependent on the public lands.3 At the same time, the lakes, streams, and rivers on Federal lands account for 45 percent of the cold and warm water fish habitat on the West Coast, 71 percent in the Mountain States, and 15 percent in the Eastern States.4 The Commission finds that Federal land policy in this field is generally unclear. Greater emphasis needs to be given fish and wildlife values in allocating public lands to various uses in order to assure that fish and wildlife resources receive equal consideration in public land administration. While great attention has been given to fish and wildlife policy, the failure 3 In 1966 about 8 percent of all game and 35 percent of the big game taken in the United States came from these lands. 4 Colorado State University, Fish and Wildlife Resources on the Public Lands, Ch. V. PLLRC Study Report, 1969. 157 |