issued during 1938 by the State Game Commission (according to report by the U.S. Wildlife Bureau) big-game animals increased in numbers between 10 and 15 per cent.
Of deer ranging the state outside of National Forests there were in 1938 an estimated 135,000 mule and 60,000 blacktail, while in the National Forests there were 141,860 of all species. Elk in the state numbered 22,000 of which 19,000 were in the National Forests.
Predatory animals in National Forests were estimated to number as follows: coyotes 23,200; bobcats 8,500; lynx 1,260; cougar 660 and wolves 130.
According to the State Game Commission there were in Oregon in 1938 some 1 6 state hatcheries for the propagation of game fish, mostly trout of various species. Oregon is an all-year fishing country, meaning that there is an open season for some sort of game fish every month in the year. Game fish, which were threatened with depletion some years ago, are now increasing, through regulation as to catches, and through stocking. Fishing in tidal waters is permitted the year around.
Beside wildlife in National Forests in Oregon in 1938, the range afforded grazing for 82,547 privately owned cattle and 587,000 sheep.
Oregon's greatest power source is the energy of falling water. Accord ing to the report of the State Planning Board of 1936, 16,000 miles of streams hold 4,605,000 horsepower of potential energy available 90 per cent of the time, or third among states in potential electrical energy.
In 1889 the first long-distance transmission line in the world was constructed in Oregon, sending power 14 miles from a hydroelectric plant at Oregon City to Portland. In 1936 there was in the state 254,000 horsepower of installed hydroelectric capacity distributed among some 250 plants, large and small, privately owned and municipal and state. The total share of Oregon from the Bonneville project will ultimately reach 500,000 horsepower.
Besides power, the streams of Oregon furnish water for the reclamation of arid lands. Among the most important irrigation projects are the Owyhee and the Klamath. The Owyhee project, according to the U. S. Reclamation Service, embraces lands near the Owyhee and Snake rivers to the extent of 115,383 acres, of which 48,100 acres were irrigated in 1937.
The Klamath project provides for diversion of water from Upper Klamath Lake for the irrigation of about 40,000 acres east of Klamath Falls and for the reclaiming of 33,000 acres of the bed of Tule Lake
