1941: Conservation

In 1941 conservation seemed to maintain 'the even tenor of its way,' and a review of the year's events could easily be written without any hint of the intimate relationship between the world's natural resources and the titanic struggle in Europe.

Wildlife.

The conservationist could look with satisfaction upon the wildlife situation which was surveyed by the Fish and Wildlife Service. Gains were made in wildlife population on every front. After dropping from a peak of 140,000,000 in 1900 to 27,000,000 in 1935, waterfowl benefited from increased rainfall, wise legislation, public care and sportsmen's interest. Since 1934, when the Migratory Bird Hunting Stamp Act was passed, the sale of stamps has yielded $1,000,000 a year. Ten million acres of marsh-land have been purchased and improved; and both Canada and Mexico have participated in measures for waterfowl preservation, with the result that 65,000,000 of these birds inhabited North America in 1940.

A census of big game animals also revealed gratifying increases: White-tailed deer, mule deer, elk and antelope were more numerous; and the moose, nearly extinct in the United States in 1900, now number over 16,000. Bison, too, were steadily increasing in game preserves and parks; and another animal which had come perilously near extinction, the musk-ox, seemed assured of survival. The situation for the fourteen woodland caribou, which are making a last stand in Minnesota, is precarious; and bighorn sheep and grizzlies appear doomed. But all in all, big game now enjoys sufficient protection to tip the balance in its favor, and wise conservational policies will no doubt perpetuate the species which have long been considered typical of the American wilderness.

Financial Questions.

Significant, too, was the $1,000,000,000 conservation budget which President Roosevelt submitted to the Seventy-Seventh Congress on Jan. 9. A few of the many items for which money was sought are: Payments to farmers for soil-conserving practices, $500,000,000; Civilian Conservation Corps, $270,000,000; Soil Conservation, $20,000,000; Forest Service, $18,600,000; Fish and Wildlife Service, $9,000,000; National Park Service, $5,000,000.

The list acquires significance chiefly by comparison, and contrast, with government appropriations of ten or twenty years ago. The influence of a prolonged depression economy and of a seven-year drought in the plains country of the West is obvious. Coupled with the constant preaching of such men as H. H. Bennett, Paul B. Sears, Stuart Chase, these events have shifted Government interest and Federal spending from the public lands to the privately owned farms, and expenditures have been made in accordance with the Soil Conservation Service's dictum that 'the soil is our most important natural resource.'

There can be no doubt about the fundamental accuracy of this dictum, nor about the effectiveness of payments to farmers as an inducement to adopt conservational methods of tillage and soil control. But it is equally plain that these payments have no place in a war economy, and that other measures must be utilized to persuade the farmers to conserve their own private property. We may logically expect a quick change of attitude toward Federal spending of this nature. It is probable, also, that the current need for man-power in the armed forces and in war industries will eliminate the Civilian Conservation Corps, but it may earnestly be hoped that enforced economy in these peace-time pursuits will not be extended to false economy in the protection of such a vital resource as the forests. It is estimated that the Government must use 1,500 feet of lumber for each man in the armed forces, and we need shrewd and intelligent forest conservation now, when the demand for forest products is rapidly pyramiding.

Water Conservation.

Noteworthy among the conservational events of 1941 was the progress made on the Los Angeles water conservation and flood control project. Designed to insure a livelihood for the 2,500,000 people who live in an area which, without careful water management and extensive water importation, could support a scant 50,000 population, the project provides for flood-retarding reservoirs in the mountain canyons, debris basins on the piedmont, flood channels, and spreading grounds where waters from the mountains are absorbed in porous gravels to replenish the ground water supply.

Elsewhere the need for water conservation was brought forcefully to public attention by deficiencies in precipitation. There was unusually low rainfall throughout the Eastern States, and many reservoirs reached an all-time low-water level. Private use of water had to be curtailed, but the situation was even more acute in industries which draw their power from hydroelectric sources. New England and other northeastern states made more extensive use of steam plants for electrical energy than ever before, and at one time during the fall months power production very nearly ceased in the hydroelectric plants of the Tennessee Valley Authority. With threatening strikes in the coal mines, and with peak demand for power in war industries, the situation was serious, and it has not been completely alleviated by belated fall rains. (See also WATER POWER.)

Mineral Conservation.

Although it is not yet possible to write a definitive account of the events, 1941 brought the United States public face to face with vital problems of mineral conservation. Perhaps it is unfortunate that the events have controversial aspects, but their value in preparing the people for far more drastic measures to come cannot be questioned. The first of these events was the 'aluminum drive'; the second, 'the gasoline conservation campaign.' The former involved voluntary contributions of aluminum ware to meet a temporary shortage in the production of metallic aluminum; the latter involved an enforced curtailment in gasoline consumption in the Northeastern states. The public responded generously to the first, sullenly to the second.

In the aluminum drive the issue was confused by claims on the part of aluminum producers that there was not a real shortage; but there were limitations in production facilities, and through well managed publicity and shrewd appeal to patriotism, the drive was eminently successful. The gasoline issue was handled with tactlessness by Conservator Harold Ickes who, after a campaign in the press and on the radio, suddenly imposed restrictions on the northeastern states at the height of the tourist season, when gasoline consumption was at its yearly maximum. There seemed to be no immediate shortage of gasoline, but merely an inadequacy of shipping facilities, and the attempt to impose restrictions on a section of the country which depends upon the tourist trade met with a hostile reception. It was correctly pointed out that Canada, which receives its supply of gasoline from this country, was not under comparable restriction.

A calm survey of the mineral situation must, however, force any thinking person to the conclusion that conservation will soon be one of the dominant factors in our war-time lives. Supplies of tin, antimony, and the ferrous alloy metals are scarce — indeed, not adequate for war needs. As we enter 1942, and as we face expenditures of $59,000,000,000 for the conduct of a total war, we may profitably become aware of our own deficiencies and of the need to conserve mineral raw materials, as well as such vegetable raw materials as rubber. This is a rare opportunity to educate the public in conservational problems; and even though our government is engrossed in more pressing problems, it may be hoped that the opportunity will not be missed. The Axis Powers are fighting to control the world's raw materials, and we, as we use them to fight the Axis, may well acquire a new understanding of their value. See also AGRICULTURE; FORESTRY; PETROLEUM.