Fauna Series No. 1 Cover Contents Foreword Approach Methods Analysis Conspectus Suggested Policy

Fauna of the National Parks of the United States CONSPECTUS OF WILD-LIFE PROBLEMS OF EACH PARK EASTERN PARKS Acadia and Great Smoky Mountains already form the nucleus of this group which in the near future may include Shenandoah, Mammoth Cave, Isle Royale, and the suggested Everglades national parks. The conception of a chain of national parks in the densely populated country east of the Mississippi River is a recent one. Their principal function will be to preserve the fragrant restfulness of wilderness life close to the great centers of industry and commerce. These eastern parks will never boast the massive grandeur or the grotesque formation and fantastic coloration that abound in the parks of the West. Theirs is a different, albeit just as pleasing, charm. It is made of the beauty of lush grasses, of rioting autumn colors, of the varied hardwood forest, of spring flowers, of colorful birds, and of hazy green-clothed mountains and the clearest sparkling waters. The very essence of these parks will be their wild life, both plant and animal. It will have to be carefully protected. The fauna particularly has been ravished by several generations of unremittent hunting and trapping. It will take additional years of careful nursing to restore its primitive vigor. The task can only be accomplished on the broad base of boundaries that are adequate to wild life in the first place. The valuable, if sad, experiences gained in the western parks caution the need for careful preliminary investigation of faunal requirements before drawing original boundaries. In the faunal surveys of these parks relatively heavy emphasis will fall on the work of determining the primitive wild-life picture and tracing the influence of human history on the wild life. The original picture has been obscured in a region so long occupied, and the maladjustments are correspondingly numerous. Whereas the other parks of the group will have general biotic similarities, Everglades is the exception that its name indicates. It really belongs in a distinct group with itself as the only member. Great Smoky Mountains and the Everglades were the only eastern park projects visited in the preliminary survey. EASTERN PARKS Proposed Everglades | Great Smoky Mountains PARKS Southwest | Rocky Mountain | Pacific Coast | Eastern | Territorial

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