Regulation Is Essential For Conservation

The outstanding address at the 1946 North American Wildlife Conference was made by E. Sydney Stephens, Chairman of the Missouri Conservation Commission. It was plain talk from a man who has given much thought to the problems of the moment in wildlife conservation, and who is in a position to know whereof he speaks. Some of his points deserve a wider audience than the Conference session or that the Transactions, later to be published, will afford. The title of Mr. Stephens' address was "Where Are We and What Time Is It?"

Pointing out that we are faced with "the certain prospect of increasing demands on our natural resources," he declared, "there are ugly spots in the wildlife picture. We still read and hear about exploitation, commercialization, game hogs and violators, and we know that they exist despite education and law enforcement. But we are inclined to think of them in terms of uncouth, uninformed and sometimes criminal individuals. There is no doubt that such gentry are with us, but we are prone to overlook the organized and well-heeled predators of special privilege. They frequently ask to be exempted from restrictions, which they insist should be placed upon others less fortunate. Too many hunters and fishermen regard hag and creel limits as goals to be attained rather than deadlines beyond which they may not go."

Progress and gains have been recorded here and there, Mr. Stephens asserted, but existing agencies—federal, state and private—are not yet doing the important task of telling the general public the story of conservation and the vital relationships between land and all its products, which are fundamental to a balanced civilization. Attempting to assess the blame for this failure, the Commissioner asserted that it lies principally with state administration. Assaying the state administrations, Mr. Stephens applied a few simple and reasonable standards—"adequate legal authority, employment of trained personnel, the development of wildlife environment, education, practical research, cooperation with landowners, and the support of citizen organizations."

"Judged by these standards," Mr. Stephens said, “here is how the states rate: Twenty-five are lacking adequate legal authority to administer wildlife resources or to regulate their use. Sixteen states employ no trained technicians whatever, or are not better than twenty percent equipped or manned. Fourteen give no attention to the improvement or development of environment. Twenty-one carry on no cooperation with any group or individual. Fourteen make no effort whatever in the field of education, and twenty others do not claim to be more than fifty percent efficient in that vital field; none is more than seventy percent efficient. Regulation is essential to conservation; the two are inseparable; to divide them would be like trying to build a savings account and giving a second party a book of blank checks”.

By: davidbunch

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