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Show sustained yield basis, will be the revenue from furs. However, if the current demand prevails, commercial fur farming hardly will lose its present importance. Refuges.- The establishment of wildlife refuges has on the whole brought excellent results. Their necessity is indisputable, and the only questions that might be raised relate to whether present distribution is adequate in all parts of the country, and whether existing and potential refuges might be made more productive. There seems little question that the present number of waterfowl winter refuges, in the United States as a whole, is insufficient to feed the number of birds now being produced during the summer months in Canada and Alaska. 58 In the Colorado River Basin, as elsewhere, former natural feeding grounds for waterfowl have been converted to agricultural use, thereby further aggravating the problem. Reservoir construction offers a potential solution to the waterfowl feeding problem, but such a solution remains strictly theoretical unless operating water levels in the reservoirs are kept within such bounds as to permit the actual production of food for waterfowl. The States of the Colorado River Basin operate many important refuges for waterfowl and game animals, but within the actual limits of the basin the distribution of refuges is irregular. An increase in the number of refuges within the basin would be beneficial provided the productivity of the land also was restored. " Most wildlife refuges provide feed. Most refuges for mammals only protect them from shooting and do not exclude domestic stock. This difference is fundamental." 59 The present restricted status of antelope in northern Arizona, where the creation of antelope refuges would be inadvisable at present because of the lack of grass, is a good illustration of this point. 60 The vast amount of Federal land in the Colorado River Basin would, if other circumstances were favorable, make possible the creation of a system of refuges of far- reaching importance. The Fish and Wildlife Service maintains a number of waterfowl refuges on various large reservoirs, and several im- 58 Salyer, 1945, p. 45. 59 Bond, R. M., 1945, in letter. 60 Knipe, 1944, pp. 10, 22, 38. portant desert game refuges. Production of food for waterfowl on these reservoirs is small, and consequently their potential value is largely unrealized. As in the case of State refuges, extension of a Federal system of game refuges would be beneficial only if the productivity of the land were restored. The National Park Service, by reason of its policy of maintaining absolute sanctuary for wildlife, maintains in effect an irregularly distributed system of refuges along various parts of the Colorado River. However, a fundamental defect of some national park and monument areas as wildlife refuges has been their relative lack of fertility. Rainless deserts and barren canyon walls often make spectacularly beautiful recreation areas, but as a rule they can produce only inconsequential numbers of wildlife. The U. S. Forest Service administers some of the largest and most outstandingly productive natural habitats remaining in the Colorado River Basin. In contrast with the general situation throughout the remainder of the basin, most wildlife nas held its own there in recent years, and some species have increased. One reason for the better status of wildlife in the national forests is that the latter are located principally in the foothill and mountain areas, which are the regions least subject to transformation by urbanization, heavy industry, and intensive farming. Another reason is that wildlife has received increasing consideration in forest management following recognition of its recreational value. The result is that forest lands function as one of the most important refuge systems in the basin, even though hunting is permitted. However, aside from the hunting, which is a legitimate form of recreation and is carefully regulated, national forests are by no means absolute wildlife sanctuaries. This is because under the existing principle of " multiple- use," other economic activities that interfere in varying degrees with maximum wildlife production are allowed to dominate. Heavy grazing, and the intensive trapping of rare fur bearers, probably are the most serious of these competing economic activities at present. In theory, the great body of knowledge that has been accumulated on game and range management shows the way to a profitable reconciliation that will also restore land productivity, but in practice, local pressure groups 60 |