Santa Barbara County Fish and Game – The Early 1920s
The California Fish and Game – Conservation of Wild Life Through Education publications provided information about efforts to conserve and protect the incredible variety of wildlife found throughout California.
Santa Barbara County itself has such variety of landscape that it is home to creatures of the seashore, river, mountain, valley, and cities. There were many forms of wildlife in the 1920s that were endangered. Conservation and protection measures were beginning to be implemented throughout the county in the 1920s, as well as in the Santa Barbara National Forest.
Below is a sampling of articles from the report, years 1921 – 1923. The full report can be found on Google Books, here.
Santa Barbara to Frame Protective Laws – January 1923 – Page 33
This article describes the park that is known today as the Santa Barbara Bird Refuge, on Cabrillo Boulevard.
The city park commissioners of Santa Barbara are making a progressive and commendable move in the direction of a city ordinance which will make of all their city parks wildlife refuges. For several years a pond in one of the city parks near shore has been designated by the commissioners as a refuge for water birds. Owing to the general prohibition of the use of firearms within the city limits, the ducks which flock there have learned to feel themselves so safe that poachers now find it an easy matter to approach them near enough to throw clubs and stones with stunning or fatal effects. There seems to be no statute, city, state, or federal, which makes this a legal offense during the open season on waterfowl….
The establishment of such refuges in the heart of a city affords pleasure to the numerous park visitors, has great educational value, fosters the love and appreciation of birds, and ultimately serves the interests of true sportsmen.
Large Annual Kill of Deer in the Santa Barbara National Forest – 1922 – Page 55
Santa Barbara County hunters reported there were 119 deer killed during deer season.
There was a total of 978 reported last year [statewide], which would tend to indicate that hunting was not being carried on as formerly, or else that deer are becoming scarcer. However, from our observations, the woods were full of hunters…deer are just about holding their own against the hunters and lions, with a probably increase in some localities.
-Thomas Sloan, Santa Barbara, California
New Game Refuge Proposed for Santa Barbara National Forest – 1922 – Page 55
A game refuge is recommended in the Santa Ynez district for a double purpose, namely:
First to provide an area into which a number of people go and in which hunting is forbidden, and also into which the game drift from the higher areas. It is felt that a game sanctuary is needed to better protect and perpetrate, especially the deer that come down for water into the region covered by the proposed refuge.
Second, within the area covered by the boundaries of the proposed game refuge is what is known as Gibralter Dam, in the Santa Ynez River, which impounds a large body of water with a surface of about 250 acres and from which the city of Santa Barbara derives its water supply, and it is very much desired by the city of Santa Barbara that everything possible be done to protect the domestic water supply from possible sources of contamination.
– Thomas W Sloan, Santa Barbara, California
Violations of Pigeon Law Numerous – January 1922 – page 57
Wild pigeons were not popular with Santa Barbara County farmers and ranchers in the 1920s. Hog farmers claimed band-tailed pigeons ate acorns which were the prime source of hog feed locally. Santa Barbara County Deputy HJ Abels of Santa Maria, sent a report to the US Department of Agriculture listing offenders who committed various offenses against the pigeons, as outlined in Fish and Game Law Section 626 by “hunting, pursuing, taking, killing, detraining, and having possession of wild pigeons.”
Among the offenders who were cited and fined:
- GW Fryman, Whittier, Cal.
- RN Hobbs, Lompoc, Cal.
- B Davis, Los Olivos, Cal.
- AR Wurz, Los Alamos, Cal.
Facts of Current Interest – Mountain Lions – Santa Barbara County – January 1922 – Page 49
That the mountain lion is still found in numbers in certain places in California is evidenced by the fact that JG Moore of Los Olivos, Santa Barbara County, recently applied for bounty on eleven lions taken between October 9 and November 26, 1921, in the Santa Barbara National Forest. The bounty will total $300.
Few Antelope Left in Southern California – January 1922 – Page 191
Antelope may still be found along the foothills of the Tehachapi Range and in the Antelope Valley on the Santa Barbara Forest where there are at least 10.
Notes on the Sea Lions – Edward Starks – January 1921 – Page 250
Mr. Starks’ article describes in detail the role that the Santa Barbara Channel Islands play as home and rookeries for thousands of California sea lions on the western coast of the United States. See page 250 in the January 1921 volume for full article.
