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OCR for page 149
Special Problems
of Waters ancl
Watersheds
As noted in preceding chapters, hydrologic developments have been
important since primitive times in radically altering the face of the
land. Both dewatering and flooding have been used to convert the
natural drainage pattern of the continent into what we find today in
many regions-the efficient utilization of land for adapted crops and
the use of water for power, irrigation, and other purposes. These
changes are still in progress, and pertinent questions arise as to how
far and at what cost they should be pursued.
On a wide variety of aquatic sites, as well as on watersheds directly
affecting streams and slack waters, what man does has important en-
vironmental impact. As one such impact, wildlife habitats may be
either degraded or improved. Effects of this kind were touched upon
in the survey of major changes on land and water (Chapter 31. In this
chapter, several of the more far-reaching problems are explored in
more detail, with the view that they offer particular challenge to re-
source planning in the public interest. The analysis may also help to
provide guidance on the local front where, in the last analysis, the test
of policy is made.
WETLANDS OF THE NORTHERN PRAI Rl ES
The importance of the northern prairie pothole country as a breeding
ground of North American waterfowl has been mentioned in various
sections of this report. This region provides a classic example of the
149
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150
Land Use and Wildlife Resources
conflict between land-use practices and a wildlife resource of national
and international importance.
The land in this region is characterized by small marshes that in
some localities are thickly scattered over the former tall-grass and
mixed prairies. It is some 300,000 square miles in extent, stretching in
a broad arc from Iowa north and west to Winnipeg and Edmonton.
Since Iowa marshes have largely been drained (Sieh, 1948), the present
distribution of potholes south of the border is principally in the Dako-
tas and western Minnesota. Combined, the prairies of Canada and the
northern United States comprise about 10 percent of the waterfowl
breeding grounds of North America, and it is estimated that they pros
duce more than half of the annual crop of dabbling and diving ducks
on the continent (Smith et al., 1964~. The density of potholes on the
land varies from as many as 100 per square mile to "Blocks of prairies
as large as 20 thousand square miles in the Dakotas [that] average
fewer than 10 potholes per square mile.'
In some years nearly every depression in glaciated northcentral
United States and the Prairie Provinces holds water in the spring. The
wet areas may be small temporary ponds and puddles, or they may be
lakes covering hundreds of acres. It is during these years of high pre-
cipitation that our continental "duck factory" is most productive. It is
also during these years that water damage to farm crops is most severe.
Birds frequently court and develop their pair bonds on the tempo
rary waters. Dabbling ducks nest in fields and grassy borders and rear
their broods in the marshes. Diving ducks incubate their clutches on
mats of dead plant material in the emergent vegetation of shallow
waters. For all ducks, the deep sloughs that hold water through the
summer are critical habitat for maturing the young.
The northern location of the breeding ground undoubtedly has
certain advantages, as pointed out by Day (19661:
. the pothole area North has traditionally demonstrated advantages in the pro-
duction of marsh dwelling duck species. These shallow natural depressions freeze
each winter to depths that eliminate natural predators such as pike, bass and tur-
tles. Also, freezing prevents infestation by carp, which roil the waters and dis-
courage the production of aquatic plants.
The coming of the ducks in spring was described by Smith et al.
(19641:
The first mallards, pintails, and canvasbacks begin to arrive on prairie potholes in
late March or early April, depending upon the severity of the weather. On the
western prairies, spring usually arrives earlier than in eastern sections.... Mallards
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Special Problems of Waters and Watersheds
151
and pintails may appear in Alberta and northern Montana in mid-March, while
great concentrations of the same species may be held up in the Dakotas for another
month by freezing temperatures.
American widgeons, gadwalls, shovelers, green-winged teal, lesser scaup, and
redheads usually follow in a few weeks.... Blue-winged teal, normally the last to
migrate, may appear anytime from late April to mid-May.
Recent ecological studies have shown that periods of drought, when
most of the potholes go dry, are important in the long-term dynamics
of waterfowl productivity. At these times, humus deposits that have
been preserved under water are again exposed to the air. Through oxi-
dation they break down and become soluble nutrients that contribute
to fertility and the production of all plant and animal life when the
rains come again. Oxidation and subsidence, as well as occasional peat
fires, are processes that slow the eutrophication, filling, and natural
drying out of the prairie lakes and marshes (Jahn and Hunt, 19641.
In decades past, the contribution of potholes to groundwaters was
largely discounted, it being the view of some hydrologists that the tight
soils of the region largely precluded this movement. In times of
drought, however, many landowners discovered that their only source
of stockwater was a shallow well dug into the dry bottom of a pothole.
More recently, studies of the Geological Survey have brought about a
new evaluation of the "insoak" from potholes (quoted by Mann,
1966):
The rates calculated seldom exceed 0.01 foot per day and usually are much less.
Even if the rate were only 0.0025 foot per day, in a season of 200 days and an
average area of 1 million acres in North Dakota, this would mean 500,000 acre-
feet seeping into the ground. The maximum seepage rates that might be significant
for the pothole region are now being investigated.
On this basis it appears that prairie marshes do have at least a limited
hydrologic function in replenishing aquifers beneath these glacial
deposits.
Pothole Losses, Past and Present
The first general wetland inventory in the pothole region south of the
Canadian border was taken in 1964. Biologists of the Bureau of Sport
Fisheries and Wildlife surveyed a 25 percent sample in every section of
each township. On this basis they estimated that 2.7 million acres of
permanent wetlands remain. In primitive times the acreage was perhaps
twice as great.
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Land Use and Wildlife Resources
There has been a progressive loss of waterfowl habitat in the north-
ern prairie region from a combination of causes, including agricultural
drainage, land leveling and filling, soil washing and siltation, wind ero-
sion, road building and urban occupancy, and pollution. Of these, the
first is undoubtedly the most important.
From an agricultural standpoint, drainage in the wheat-growing
lands of the former grass country can be good business for a land-
owner. It permits him to harvest a crop from sites that formerly caused
trouble. When seedbeds are prepared each spring, low areas of a field
may be too wet to be worked; the farmer must detour and seed them
at a later date or forgo planting crops in these spots. Often he wastes
time when equipment bogs down. When a wetland does get planted, it
is not uncommon for a heavy rain to drown the crop.
Economist H. W. Herbison ( 1 967) of North Dakota State University
discussed the shallow and temporary types of field depressions in a re-
port on wetlands use and management:
Losses due to incomplete drainage for Type 1 and 2 wetlands . . . in about 30
counties east of the Missouri would figure out to an average annual toll of North
Dakota's economy of at least $15 million in terms of income from delayed
seeding . . . the cost of incomplete drainage in terms of marketability and lost
grain associated with harvesting following periods of heavy rainfall would likely
average out in this same area at about $5 million annually.
Herbison indicated that, by conservative estimates, farmers of one
district of the Devils Lake Watershed should benefit by about $3 to $4
for every $1 expended on updating facilities for removing excess sheet
water and floodwater from valuable croplands. This, of course, does
not apply to the deep marshes on which ducks chiefly depend, but it
illustrates the importance of adequate drainage to the agricultural
enterprise.
As early as 1938, Kenney and McAtee stated that the drainage of
productive waterfowl marshes to create more wheat land in the north-
ern Great Plains was a major reason for the decline of the continental
waterfowl population. They commented that
Drought has now shown us that drainage of that region was carried on to a degree
harmful even to the direct interests of man and that it would have been well to
have left a great deal of this territory in its original undrained condition.
Evidently the progress of land reclamation, mainly through private
drainage operations, was well along at that time. In spite of such ad-
monitions, in the period after World War II, with government encour
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Special Problems of Waters and Watersheds
153
agement to increase production, farmers of the northern prairies greatly
intensified their land-use practices. A long term record specific to wet-
land drainage does not exist. However, the U.S. Department of Agri-
culture (1963) reported drainage benefiting 6,237,000 acres in
Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota from 1936 to 1963.
Biologists of the Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife investigated the
significance of these figures as an indication of actual wetland losses
and concluded that approximately 25 percent of the reported drainage
represented a significant reduction of waterfowl habitat. On this basis,
the loss of productive wetlands is about one and one-half million acres,
or about 57,000 acres per year. Loss of waterfowl production is esti-
mated at 1,840,000 (chiefly ducks) per year. Annual duck losses as a
result of all habitat destruction since the late 1 800's are thought to be
of the order of 6 million.
There is major disagreement between the Bureau of Sport Fisheries
and Wildlife and the Soil Conservation Service relative to both statis-
tics and their interpretation. On the basis of data compiled by the Soil
Conservation Service, 205,984 potholes, totaling 246,918 acres, were
drained in the tri-state area from 1946 to 1965. The waterfowl produc-
tion lost to drainage is estimated at an average of 327,613 ducks per
year. Although this Midyear period is not the same as the 27-year sur-
vey interpreted by the Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife, a differ-
ence in the figure on annual waterfowl losses by a factor of nearly 6 to
1 indicates a fundamentally different approach to the problem.
More reliable indications of the extent of recent drainage are studies
made by the Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife since 1950, when
more intensive work in this field was initiated. Cooperation of the Soil
Conservation Service and the Agricultural Conservation Program Ser-
vice has made more drainage records available, and field appraisals in
terms of wetland categories have aided interpretation. The prairie wet-
lands are now described as ranging from class I (the most transitory
type of field depression that holds water for a few days or weeks in
spring) to class V (deep marshes that retain some water even in time of
drought) (Schrader, 19551.
A study of drainage records for 1949 and 1950 indicated that an
average of nearly three potholes to the square mile were drained in
west-central Minnesota. There remained 14.2 water areas to the square
mile at that time (Burwell and Sugden, 19641.
Some 46 thousand potholes, whose total surface area was 188 thousand acres, were
destroyed in Minnesota and North and South Dakota in 1949 and 1950. That was
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Land Use and Wildlife Resources
done with subsidy payments; many others were drained without payments and did
not appear in the record.
As part of the intensified program, a survey of subsidized agricul-
tural drainage in relation to waterfowl habitat losses in the tri-state
region was carried out from 1954 to 1958 (Bureau of Sport Fisheries
and Wildlife, 19611. This work was restricted to the 93 counties of
greatest importance to waterfowl at that time. Thus counties largely
drained before 1954 were not included. For the 5-year period a mini-
mum of 50,410 waterfowl habitat areas, totaling 60,440 acres, were
drained with federal assistance. The average was 12,088 acres per year.
From 1959 to 1966 more data on subsidized drainage in the tri-state
region indicated that approximately 31,032 acres of habitat were de-
stroyed, with the rate of loss considerably reduced after 1962, when
Public Law 87-732 was passed, followed by the Reuss Amendment to
the Agricultural Appropriations Act in 1963.
The foregoing figures indicate that waterfowl habitat losses involving
government-sponsored programs are reasonably well known; the extent
of private drainage was not well documented, however, until 1964
when the Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife made its total inven-
tory of existing production habitat (wetland classes III, IV, and V). In
this 25-percent sampling, the most recent aerial photographs were used,
followed by field checks to verify the typing. Data were corrected for
losses that occurred after the photographs were taken. This survey is
the base from which the reduction of waterfowl habitat has been cal-
culated in an annual inventory since 1964.
These yearly studies indicate that recent wetland losses are primarily
the result of privately constructed farm drainage systems (Haddock and
DeBates, 19699. The outlets used are those established through the
small watersheds program (see p. 163 for discussion of Public Law
566), flood control projects of the Corps of Engineers, and local high-
way and other ditching systems. The sampling of the tri-state area,
utilizing 4.6 percent of the 1964 inventory, from 196S through 1968
indicated that approximately 125,000 acres of the best waterfowl habi-
tat (i.e., classes III, IV, and V) had been drained in the 4-year period.
The most intensive operations were in Minnesota, with North Dakota
and South Dakota following in that order.
In Canada, land reclamation through drainage has lagged behind
similar operations in the United States, although the availability of
heavy machinery has given impetus to the movement in recent years
(Burwell and Sugden, 19641. There has been some provincial partici
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Special Problems of Waters and Watersheds
155
pation in drainage projects, most notably in Alberta. There, a survey
by Ducks Unlimited indicated that by 1960 registered ditches and
drainage projects had affected 1 15,000 acres, and licensed "flood irri-
gation projects" had drained 27,000 acres of wetlands and 55,580 acres
of large lakes and marshes. Prior to 1960, water rights legislation in the
Prairie Provinces did not recognize nonconsumptive uses of water, such
as wildlife and recreation, as a legitimate claim.
The general significance of trends in land use north and south of the
border appears to be the same. Almost irrespective of the degree of ac-
curacy attributed to drainage statistics, there is no real question that
this and other types of habitat destruction and degradation in the prai-
rie nesting ground have been extensive. The continental waterfowl
population reached its low point in historic times during the drought
years of the 1 930's, when habitats of this region were largely out of
production. Correspondingly, it may be concluded that the disappear-
ance of a major portion of the prairie waterfowl habitat has had an im-
portant influence in the long-term downward trend of the duck
population.
Regulation and Mitigation of Drainage
By the late 1 940's, field staffs of the Soil Conservation Service and the
Fish and Wildlife Service were attempting to reconcile their differences.
Predictably they did not make great progress, even though administra-
tors and biologists of both agencies realized that public money was
being used on the one hand to destroy waterfowl habitat and on the
other to restore it (in the national wildlife refuge system and also in
state federal-aid programs). The fact that Congress, under the urging of
national agricultural organizations, continued to provide drainage sub-
sidies meant that agencies of the Department of Agriculture would con-
tinue to carry out their missions.
Within the limits of its position, however, the Department of Agri-
culture recognized the problem. Attention was called to it in the
regulations for 1954, and in the following year cost sharing was not
allowed on drainage for the primary purpose of bringing new land into
production. This principle was further invoked in guidelines applying
to open ditches in 1958. Drainage for improving existing croplands
(lands with a crop history in at least 2 of the 5 years preceding an am
plication for assistance) and for improving land-use efficiency was
recognized as legitimate.
These regulations necessarily left the drainage of land up to local
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Land Use and W ildl if e Resources
option and definitions. They slowed the destruction of waterfowl habi-
tat where work unit conservationists took a strong stand. They were
not generally effective, however, in part because landowners could
plow up potholes in years of drought, thus establishing a crop history
and making the area eligible for drainage assistance. The Bureau of
Sport Fisheries and Wildlife (1961) concluded that
It is clearly evident from an evaluation of the foregoing data and considerations,
that as long as Federal cost-shares and/or technical assistance for drainage are
available in the primary waterfowl-producing zone of the United States, waterfowl
habitat will continue to be destroyed both directly and indirectly as a result of
such assistance until the waterfowl habitat is gone.
The inconsistency of this situation was increasingly realized in the
Congress as the representations of many wildlife conservation groups
were heard during the fifties. In 1958 Public Law 85-585 made possi-
ble the purchase or leasing of waterfowl breeding habitat, and in 1962
Public Law 87-732 required that all requests for drainage of land in the
prairie pothole region be referred to the Bureau of Sport Fisheries and
Wildlife for a prior determination of their wildlife value. The Bureau,
or a state, was afforded an opportunity to buy areas of importance,
and if the landowner refused to sell, he was not eligible for drainage
assistance during the ensuing 5 years.
Significant action in 1963 was passage of the Reuss Amendment to
the Agricultural Appropriations Act of that year-a measure that has
been a part of subsequent annual appropriations acts. On a nationwide
basis, the use of Agricultural Conservation funds is prohibited for the
drainage of wetland classes III, IV, and V. This law limits drainage sub-
sidies in an important way, but it does not disqualify individuals or
groups from obtaining other kinds of assistance in drainage projects.
Government help is thus still contributing to the loss of valuable wet-
land areas.
The foregoing aspects of the waterfowl-wetlands problem must be
considered in the light of a recent study by Goldstein ( 19671. This
broad economic appraisal indicated that the cost of drainage of per-
manent wetlands is sufficiently high that it would be uneconomical
for a landowner if he paid the entire cost and if the market were free
and competitive for agricultural products. Thus, without price sup-
ports and government subsidies, the destruction of high-quality water-
fowl habitat would be a socially inefficient process. Goldstein suggested
that legislation prohibiting drainage of permanent wetlands would be
appropriate if it included a suitable appeals system under which the
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Special Problems of Waters and Watersheds
157
public value of a marsh might be determined with a view to equitable
adjustments.
Publ ic Acquisition and Easements
On the northern prairies, state conservation agencies and organizations
have long been concerned over the disappearance of wetlands. This is
particularly evident in Minnesota, where Vesall (1963) estimated that
these habitat types were being lost at a rate of 5 percent per year. He
reported that under a program begun in 1951-Save Minnesota's Wet-
lands-the state had optioned or purchased l 22,835 acres of prime
habitat at a cost of nearly $4 million in sportsmen's funds. The state
increased the small game license fee by $1 for this purpose. Within 10
years it was expected that the goal of 250,000 acres would be
achieved-areas that would be preserved and developed for wildlife. At
that time the state had created or improved about 60,000 acres of
marshlands on state wildlife areas. In the Dakotas, federal aid acqui-
sition and development programs have featured wetlands, and in South
Dakota $9 of every out-of-state license fee is allocated to this purpose.
A citizen's organization dedicated to preserving waterfowl habitat
was formed in Milwaukee in 1961. "Wetlands for Wildlife" purchases
key areas, which are then given to a state or the federal government.
Although not a part of the prairie pothole country, the State of Wis-
consin has been outstanding for its historic surveys and program of
preservation and restoration for waters and marshlands. Dahlberg
(1960) said that in 20 years 141,532 acres of wetlands had been ac-
quired at a cost of more than 2 million dollars. Significantly, he called
this the sportsman's "best investment," and observed that such areas
are growing steadily in value. Acquiring these habitat areas was essen-
tial to preserving them from drainage even though full development of
their productive potential for wildlife must await the future availability
of funds. Among the spectacularly successful waterfowl areas that the
state has developed (in some cases jointly with federal projects) are the
Horicon, Neceda, Meadow Valley, and Crex Meadows wildlife areas.
The federal program to preserve valuable wetland habitat from
drainage through the acquisition of land or rights was initiated in 1958
with passage of an amendment to the Duck Stamp Act of 1934. This
effort requires cooperative arrangements with the Minnesota Depart-
ment of Conservation; the North Dakota Department of Game and
Fish; the South Dakota Department of Game, Fish and Parks; and the
Nebraska Game, Forestation, and Parks Commission. Since funds were
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Land Use and Wildlife Resources
inadequate, an accelerated program was provided for in 1961 with
passage of the Emergency Wetlands Loan Act (Public Law 87-383, 75
Stat. 8131. This act authorized an appropriation up to $105 million
over a 7-year period on a countrywide basis for waterfowl conservation
purposes. The act was extended for an additional 8 years in 1967.
A part of the wetlands conservation effort is concentrated in the
north-central states (about a third of the above funds are so ear-
marked) and is known as the Waterfowl Production Habitat Preserva-
tion Program on Private Lands. This program provides for purchasing
easements, in perpetuity, extending to the owner's right to drain, burn,
or fill small water or marsh areas, so that they may be preserved per-
manently to benefit waterfowl and other wildlife. Some key areas are
purchased outright. By the end of April 1968, more than 590,000
acres of privately owned waterfowl habitat were so protected.
The initial objections of county officials and landowners created
difficulties for this program, and delayed approval by state governors.
One basis for objections was removed in 1964 when the Refuge Reve-
nue Sharing Law allocated three fourths of one percent of the purchase
price of a federally acquired tract to counties for the use of schools
and roads. It has long been established that 25 percent of the income
from products sold (such as crops or timber) on the national wildlife
refuges goes to counties for the above purposes.
Under drainage referral arrangements through March 1967, more
than 91 percent of landowners requesting assistance refused offers of
the Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife that would have preserved
their wetland areas through easement or purchase. Other limitations
are that easements do not protect a marsh from siltation, and there is
no guarantee that there will be adjacent nesting cover as required by
most dabbling ducks. In Herbison's study (1967), an informal survey
of farmers indicated that about 7 out of 10 showed interest in main-
taining class III, IV, and V wetlands for the accommodation of ducks
in return for governmental assistance with economic drainage of excess
flood and sheet waters from valuable croplands currently classified as
class I and II wetlands. He indicated that such willingness was hedged
with a desire to have competent soils technicians establish the class III
and IV classifications for the areas under consideration. An obvious
difficulty is that these are habitat classes, not soil classes.
As of March 1969, in the critical tri-state area covered by the 1964
wetlands inventory, state game agencies had acquired some 83,000
acres of waterfowl habitat. Another 86,000 acres had been purchased
under the federal Small Wetlands Program, and the bureau had ob
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Special Problems of Waters and Watersheds
tained easements on about half a million acres of class III, IV, and V
potholes.
159
Another significant effort toward government responsibility for key
waterfowl lands is being made in Canada. Jahn (1968) stated that
Canada launched a 10-year program, beginning in 1967 to control, through land-
owner agreement, about two thirds of the 6,000,000 prairie sloughs and potholes
that are of major importance in the production of three-fourths of North
America's important game ducks.
At a research and management workshop held at the Northern Prai-
rie Wildlife Research Center at Jamestown, North Dakota, in 1967,
biologist Graham Cooch said that the Canadian effort includes acqui-
sition of selected wetlands and a system of easements to preserve
waterfowl habitat in the pothole country. These multimillion-dollar
programs are expected to secure 4.4 million acres of prime duck habi-
tat and provide for research, public use, and depredation control. A
complete inventory of lands, including wetlands, will be available in
1970 (Flyway Council Memo by Raymond E. Johnson, June 26,
1 967).
A promising aspect of wetland acquisitions, state and federal, is that
many areas in public ownership can be improved as breeding habitat
for waterfowl. The Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center is car-
rying out studies that have this objective. Soil Conservation Service
biologists (Hem or et al., 1968) have made useful suggestions to land-
owners for improving natural and man-made wet areas for waterfowl.
Fencing, damming, "level ditching," opening up dense vegetation, and
creating "loafing areas" are appropriate measures where the owner has
an interest in wildlife. Progress in creating such interest among farmers
would be speeded by establishing an adequate federal-state extension
program on wildlife problems.
The Changing View
Although positive programs, both public and private, have developed
in the United States and Canada for preserving and managing portions
of the waterfowl breeding areas, the efforts to date probably are not
on a scale that can maintain this wildlife resource on a generally useful
level. As Jahn (1968) pointed out, something more effective is needed,
and he cited the "water bank" idea being studied by an interagency
committee in North Dakota. This would be a system of waters and
wetlands reserved and administered through the county offices of the
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Land Use and Wildl if e Resources
the agronomist and agricultural engineer. Important advances of these
kinds have been made and undoubtedly will continue.
The soil-stabilizing vegetation that forms wildlife coverts on riparian
lands sometimes receives little consideration in land uses. Surveys indi-
cate that there are at least 300,000 miles of streambanks undergoing
severe erosion. In the intermountain West, from 66 to 90 percent of the
sediment load of many streams has this origin. Commonly the stream-
side vegetation important to fish and other wildlife has been destroyed
by heavy grazing
Streambank cover is beneficial to fish as shade and as a source of
insect foods. It is habitat for fur animals, squirrels, wood ducks, arid
many kinds of songbirds. A survey of streambank wildlife habitat in
Kentucky (Russell, 1966) showed that of 226 miles of stream margins
surveyed, including 18 streams or sections thereof, 93.5 miles (41.4
percent) had been altered. The practice most frequently adverse to
wildlife was agricultural clearing; others included refuse dumping,
gravel operations, and bulldozing in connection with flood-control
operations.
In the Southwest, the introduced salt cedar occurs on floodplains of
the Rio Grande, and the Colorado and Gila rivers. It seines as impor-
tant nesting habitat for the white-winged dove and mourning dove.
Arizona Game and Fish Department studies indicated that the salt
cedar thickets along the Gila River channel between Gillespie Dam and
the confluence with the Salt River provided about 98 percent of the
habitat for a nesting population of more than 360,000 doves in this
area.
Salt cedar appears to take the place of dryland thickets of mesquite
that were destroyed by woodcutting and land clearing and thus has
been important in maintaining the dove population. If the salt cedar,
a phreatophyte that occasions a large loss of water through evapotrans-
p~ration, were destroyed on a large scale, the number of doves would
Inevitably be reduced.
Likewise, if the cottonwoods, sycamores, alders, and maples of
mountain canyons in southern Arizona and New Mexico were to be
cut without consideration of the habitat requirements of certain rare
and endangered birds, these species might well be decimated in the
United States. Among the species utilizing such areas are the coppery-
tailed trogon (Trogon elegans), grey hawk (Buteo nitidus), black hawk
(Buteogallus an thracinus), whiskered owl (O tus trichopsis), rose-
throated becard (Pachyramphus aglaiae), thick-billed kingbird (Tyran-
nus crassirostris), varied bunting (Passerina versicolor), blue-throated
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Special Problems of Waters and Watersheds
hummingbird (Lampornis clemenciae), and the violet-crowned hum-
mingbird (Amazilia rioliceps).
These cases perhaps exemplify the local involvements of wildlife
that come to light when operations are planned and carried out by
agencies having a single purpose. Water management in the West has
been notable in this regard.
Since pioneer times, siltation has been a major factor in changing
the ecology of streams and influencing their productivity for many
kinds of vertebrate life. Whereas initially the streams of forested areas
were characteristically deep, shaded, and spring-fed, today many are
shallow and intermittent-a general reflection of the instability of
watersheds.
The storage capacity of artificial reservoirs in the country is being
reduced by sedimentation at the rate of 1 million acre-feet per year
(Freeman and Bennett, 19691. This has obvious implications for the
future, as stated by Leopold (19561:
171
Most projects will yield benefits equal to costs during their economic life, but
there will come a time when great lengths of major river valleys will consist of
reservoirs more or less filled with sediment. When that time comes, the problems
of water control and of water use will be of a distinctly different character from
those which concern us today....
Problems that will be created on built-up floodplains when this situ-
ation becomes widespread have received minimal consideration. Infor-
mation on the useful life of proposed reservoirs has been notably
lacking among the economic criteria available to the public.
Mining the Watershed
Directly or indirectly, surface mining has adversely affected wildlife
habitat involving 1 2,898 miles of stream, 281 natural lakes, 168 reser-
voirs, and 1,687,288 acres of land (U.S. Department of the Interior,
1967~. In Kentucky the average sediment yield from coal-stripping
spoil banks was 27,000 tons per square mile, as compared with 25 tons
on adjacent forested watersheds (Freeman and Bennett, 19693. From
active and abandoned mining operations of all types it is estimated that
some 4 million tons of acid equivalents are being discharged annually
into the nation's streams (Udall et al., 19681.
An approach to the rehabilitation of areas damaged by surface
mining has been suggested by special committees formed at the request
of the 89th Congress through Public Law 89-4. Their report, issued by
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Land Use and Wildlife Resources
the Department of the Interior ( 1 967), indicates that much can be
done to prevent damage and to reclaim mined lands. It proposes a co-
ordinated program involving government at all levels, plus the indus-
tries concerned, and calls for specific legislation, regulations, and action
programs relating to: (1) prevention of future damage; (2) repair of
past damage; (3) research and investigations; and (4) administration.
This report, as submitted to Congress, could be an effective guide to
all branches of the government in regulating an activity that involves
the return of more than 5,000 square miles of disturbed areas to use-
fulness as wetlands, forests, ranges, croplands, and special wildlife habi-
tats and greatly affects the public welfare.
Listings in bibliographies on strip-mine reclamation by Limstrom
(1953), Knabe (1958, in German), Bowden (1961), and Funk (1962)
indicate that the majority of the research has been concerned with
basic problems of reclaiming and revegetating or reforesting mined
areas. Yeager (1940), Riley (1958), and Klimstra (1959) studied the
potential of strip-mined coal lands of Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio as
wildlife habitat. Their studies indicate that the surface-mined areas on
which trees, shrubs, and herbaceous vegetation had been re-established
either naturally or artificially provided desirable habitat for at least ten
species of game mammals and three species of game birds, plus numer-
ous species of other birds and mammals. Wetlands within the strip-
mined area supported several kinds of fish, waterfowl, shorebirds,
reptiles, and amphibians. Such studies show the need for additional
research to determine, for the various parts of the United States, inter-
relationships between wildlife, surface mining, and rehabilitation of
mined areas.
The states have varied in their approach to reclamation of strip-
mined areas, some having laws requiring a high degree of reclamation
and others permitting a minimum of grading and revegetating under
broad regulations. In recent years Kentucky and Pennsylvania have
enacted reclamation laws that require contour leveling where this is
possible, and bench leveling on steeper lands. Where the land cannot
be reclaimed, stripping is not permitted.
Particularly in the Appalachian region, the extensive mining of steep
mountain slopes has severely damaged recreation lands and waters. On
the other hand, in the more level lands of the Midwest certain benefits
are recognizable and may be enhanced through reclamation operations.
In this respect, surface mining is leaving ponds and lakes of high rec-
reational value, and leveling the land surface would destroy these if
carried to the extreme. The irregular surface of mined areas, including
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Special Problems of Waters and Watersheds
173
the breaking up of rock strata, forms an effective catchment for the
recharging of groundwaters. Mined lands also impound runoff and may
have some flood-control value. Mined lands, with their associated
waters, have in some areas become choice suburban home sites and
bring a high price as real estate.
The Kentucky state law that requires reclamation grading back to
the original contour probably means that most of the land will become
pasture or otherwise lose its primary value for wildlife. However, most
surface-mined lands are likely to yield their major benefits in forestry
and recreation, and specific planning for these purposes is appropriate.
Thus, to promote better access by hunters and other recreationists,
Pennsylvania guidelines require that slopes not exceed 25 percent
(Davis, 19651.
In Indiana, the Patoka State Fish and Game Area has been Install
fished on surface-mined lands and will encompass some 7,000 acres
when lease arrangements with a coal company are completed. It in-
cludes seven coal-pit lakes up to 14 acres in size that offer public fish-
ing, and quail shooting is reported to be good. As part of this project,
which was begun in 1963, the state plans a management program for
other small game and for deer.
Other states are giving emphasis to wildlife habitat development in
reclaiming stripped lands, and many more such areas are likely to be
developed intensively for hunting and fishing. Natural processes of
rock fragmentation and plant succession work rapidly to aid the re-
covery of mined lands where attention is given to the burial of acid-
producing materials and to a reasonable shaping of contours. Where
mining results in long-term degradation, as on steep mountainsides, the
working of coal or other deposits should be postponed until acceptable
methods can be developed.
WILDLIFE IN WATER RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT
Legislative recognition that wildlife values should be considered in
water development operations began with passage of the Fish and Wild-
life Coordination Act of 1934 (Public Law 48-4011. An amendment of
1946 provided that reports and recommendations of the Secretary of
the Interior relative to wildlife losses and measures to be taken would
be made a part of the construction reports for federal water projects.
A further amendment in 1958 gave authority to the construction agen-
cies to improve and develop wildlife resources, with the stated purpose
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Land Use and Wildlife Resources
of providing ". . . that fish and wildlife conservation shall receive equal
consideration . . . with other features of water-resource development
programs." A final step in this direction was taken in 1965 with passage
of the Anadromous Fish Act (Public Law 89-304), which stated that:
Water resource projects which are determined by the Secretary to be needed solely
for the conservation, protection, and enhancement of such fish, may be planned
and constructed by the Bureau of Reclamation in its currently authorized geo-
graphical area of responsibility, or by the Corps of Engineers, or by the Depart-
ment of Agriculture, or by the States.
In noting this important progress, Assistant Secretary of the Interior
Cain (1966) remarked that the Fish and Wildlife Service had now be-
come one of that select group of federal agencies that could institute
water project plans. "Progress has been made, but problems are still
with us. Federal actions still are being taken in the water resources field
that are inimical to fish and wildlife resources, and we can do little
about them."
Particular areas of difficulty, said the Assistant Secretary, were the
lack of control over thermal pollution by steam electric plants, and the
insistence by some of the construction agencies that dollar values be
placed on wildlife losses. In the latter connection he quoted the Senate
Committee report on the 1958 amendment to the Coordination Act:
It is the understanding of your committee, however, that these measures would
not have to be justified under the usual benefit-cost type analysis. They would not
produce 'benefits.' These measures would be for reducing or compensating for
losses.
As a final major problem areas "We are almost always frustrated in
trying to maintain fish and wildlife values in connection with water re-
source development of coastal and estuarine areas of the Nation as a
result of dredging and filling operations." Since the waters of concern
are navigable, a permit for such operations must come from the Corps
of Engineers. But this agency has no jurisdiction over values other than
navigation. Thus the destruction continues:
All along the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts and in some parts of the Pacific Coast,
dredges by the score are busy tearing up the estuarine environment. Much of their
purpose is to build new residential areas for Venetian-type developments, that is,
with navigable canals leading to each residence. This situation is particularly acute
in Florida, where all around the peninsula estuarine fish and wildlife values are suf-
fering huge losses from dredging and filling The situation is almost as bad in Long
Island and along the New Jersey coast.
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Special Problems of Waters and Watersheds
175
Since prehistoric times, the rich biological resources of coastal wet-
lands and tidal waters have been important to mankind. Odum ( 1961)
has shown that estuaries in Georgia produced 10 tons of dry matter
during their year-round growing season-more than the best European
wheat and corn lands. The zone of shallows where fresh and salt waters
mix serves as a "nutrient trap" where a wide variety of living things
benefit from the changing depths and currents.
Coastal waters and their associated saltmarshes, mudflats, and tidal
creeks and pools are used seasonally by great numbers of migratory
waterfowl and resident birds of many kinds. They are the habitat of
certain aquatic and semiaquatic mammals, the alligator, and a vast ar-
ray of economically important marine life.
It is estimated that there are some 27 million acres of these seaside
environments bordering the United States and its territories. Here is
where such seafoods as oysters, clams, abalone, shrimp, crabs, and lob-
sters are produced, and estuaries are the nursery waters for juvenile
stages of fish that support the commercial fisheries of offshore conti-
nental shelves (see Milton, 1968; U.S. Bureau of Sport Fisheries and
Wildlife, 1967; Walford, 1967; Lynch, 19671.
Cooper (1968) stated that about 5,000 commercial fishermen and
400,000 sportsmen of North Carolina take an annual harvest of marine
products that is the equivalent of a $100 million industry. This yield is
primarily dependent on more than 2 million acres of "sounds and
marshes" bordering the state.
The importance of estuaries as fish and wildlife habitat places a high
premium on the preservation of essentially natural conditions. lIow-
ever, these are also the areas of greatest promise for the artificial cul-
ture of marine mollusks and crustaceans (Webber, 19681. It is clearly
in the national interest to promote an understanding of their ecology
and leave their use options open for the future.
It has been suggested that the Secretary of the Interior be given
authority to protect estuarine biological resources; this appears to be
a logical arrangement. In 1967, however, Cain reported gratifying
moves that were made possible through increased communication and
cooperation between the Department of the Interior and the Corps of
.
engineers:
On a basis of protection to fish and wildlife habitat, a dredging per-
mit was denied in Boca Ciega Bay, Florida. There has been increasing
evidence that the Corps of Engineers and the State of Florida are rec-
ognizing the right of Everglades National Park (a major estuarine habi-
tat) to a share of water diverted by the central and south Florida flood
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Land Use and Wildlife Resources
control and water-development project. A memorandum of under-
standing between the Secretary of the Army and the Secretary of the
Interior ". . . provides a firm basis for the two Departments to cooper-
ate in controlling pollution and conserving fish and wildlife, recreation
and esthetic values that may be involved in dredging and similar op-
erations under Corps permits."
Under this agreement district engineers of the Corps will notify
state, federal, and other interested parties when a permit application
is received and hold public hearings when appropriate (Cain, 19671.
Despite persistent liabilities, important benefits have accrued from
the Coordination Act and its amendments. Various states and the Di-
vision of River Basin Studies of the Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wild-
life have worked consistently to retain conservation pools in reservoirs.
provide for minimum water releases for fish, and avoid excessive water
releases. Increasing attention has been given to wildlife values and to
mitigation measures when construction activities are expected to result
in fish and wildlife damage. In 1965, some 196,000 acres were pur-
chased by the Corps of Engineers and the Bureau of Reclamation for
additions to the National Wildlife Refuge System. These lands were not
only for the reduction of losses but also for enhancement of the wild-
life resource. In North Dakota, 70 units of waterfowl habitat are being
supplied in dry periods with water from the Garrison Diversion Unit
on the Missouri River.
Progress is being made in integrating the hitherto widely divergent
programs of federal agencies. The intent of Congress to preserve and
improve wildlife resources for public use is evident and should have a
salutary effect as an example to states where wildlife management still
is not recognized as a beneficial competing use of water.
Much of the loss of wildlife habitats incident to water management
has come about through the widespread urge to replace natural dy-
namics with mechanized controls. The extensive development of flood-
plains for intensive uses, discussed in Chapter 3, exemplifies this trend.
When these effects are added to the accumulative results of drainage,
the total destruction of natural aquatic scenes and environments
reaches catastrophic proportions. The question of what is worth saving
for future purposes becomes an issue pressing for clear-cut decisions.
Further restructuring of natural drainageways in North America in-
volves a high proportion of large-scale, expensive, and marginal projects
that must be studied in terms of longterm effects and objectives. The
valid considerations include a philosophical outlook on the future of
mankind in this part of the world. The support of maximum numbers
OCR for page 177
Special Problems of Waters and Watersheds
177
of human beings under highly artificial conditions is a choice opposed
to the alternative of limiting population at a level where the living stan-
dard can include the esthetic and recreational values found in spacious
hinterlands.
The viewpoint is growing that the summary writing off of scenic,
space, and recreational values, as has been common in resource develop
meets, is not acceptable public policy. The emergence of revised qual-
ity criteria for the human environment is suggested in a statement by
the President's Council on Recreation and Natural Beauty (1968) Led.
note: the original is in italics]:
The Council proposes that Federal flood control and other water resource develop-
ment programs and projects seek to retain or restore natural channels, vegetation,
and fish and wildlife habitats on rivers, streams, and creeks and apply the same
policy to federally assisted public and private projects....
In view of the rapidly developing signs of overdemand and overuse
in the industrialized part of the world (see Jackson et al., 1968; Mayer,
1969), accompanied by an overburden of pollution for which no ade-
quate provision is now in sight, the need for more conservative resource
policies is evident. It is prudent to assume that not enough is known of
ultimate human needs to permit further extensive and irreversible
changes in the natural aspects of land and water.
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watersheds. 27th N. Amer. Wildl. & Natur. Resour. Conf. Trans. p. 122-132.
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Bue, I. G., L. B. Blankenship, and W. H. Marshall. 1952. The relationship of
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Cain, S. A. 1967. Estuaries: our most endangered natural habitats, p. 41-48. In
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University, Baton Rouge.
Cooper, A. W. 1967. Salt marshes and estuaries: cradle of North Carolina fisheries.
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Davis, G., et al. (editorial committee). 1965. A guide to revegetating bituminous
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Day, A. M. 1964. Developing fish and wildlife resources through Public Law 566
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Day, A. M.1966. Wildlife habitat management as a means of increasing recreation
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Natur. Resour. Conf. p. 308-313.
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Funk, D. T. 1962. A revised bibliography of strip-mine reclamation. Cent. States
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Grizzell, R. A. 1960. Fish and wildlife management on watershed projects. 25th
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Hamor, W. H. 1965. An analysis of fish and wildlife developments in watershed
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Hamor, W. H., H. G. Uhlig, and L. V. Compton. 1968. Ponds and marshes for wild
ducks on farms and ranches in the northern plains. U.S. Dep. Agr. Farmers'
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Herbison, EI. W. 1967. A progress report on aspects of North Dakota wetlands use
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Jahn, L. R. 1966. A wildlife organization's view of P.L. 566. Sod Conservation
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Jahn, L. R. 1968. "Water Bank" proposed to maintain wetlands. Ducks Unlimited
31(3): 14.
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Kenney, F. R., and W. L. McAtee. 1938. The problem: drained areas and wildlife
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Wildl. Conf. Trans. p. 348-353.
Representative terms from entire chapter:
wildlife resources
