Land Use and Wildlife Resources (1970) / Chapter Skim
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5 Special Problems of Waters and Watersheds
5 Special Problems of Waters and Watersheds
Pages 149-180
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From page 149... ...
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.
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From page 150... ...
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.
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From page 151... ...
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.
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From page 152... ...
of North Dakota State University discussed the shallow and temporary types of field depressions in a report on wetlands use and management: Losses due to incomplete drainage for Type 1 and 2 wetlands .
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From page 153... ...
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 Service has made more drainage records available, and field appraisals in terms of wetland categories have aided interpretation.
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From page 154... ...
From 1959 to 1966 more data on subsidized drainage in the tri-state region indicated that approximately 31,032 acres of habitat were destroyed, 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 inventory of existing production habitat (wetland classes III, IV, and V)
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From page 155... ...
Correspondingly, it may be concluded that the disappearance of a major portion of the prairie waterfowl habitat has had an important 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.
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From page 156... ...
In 1958 Public Law 85-585 made possible 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.
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From page 157... ...
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 Department 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.
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From page 158... ...
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.
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From page 159... ...
The Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center is carrying out studies that have this objective. Soil Conservation Service biologists (Hem or et al., 1968)
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From page 160... ...
The preliminary plan for a national water bank has been approved in recent meetings by the National Wildlife Federation, the National Association of Soil Conservation Districts, and the Mississippi Flyway Council. Implementation of the idea could reverse the present trend toward drainage and destructive management of wetland areas.
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From page 161... ...
NEW WATERS IN THE BREEDING RANGE As discussed in Chapter 3, the development of small artificial waters on private lands is a national movement of growing popularity. Cost sharing and technical assistance are provided for in the agricultural conservation programs, and the improvement of conditions for wildlife is now a recognized objective along with stock water and other agricultural benefits.
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From page 162... ...
As indicated by Smith (1953) , who studied the use of stock ponds in eastern Montana, these areas are not so productive of diving ducks (canvasback, redhead, ruddy, scaup)
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From page 163... ...
It embodies the sound logic that the management of land and water resources is best accomplished through a plan for the watershed as a natural ecological unit. As amended, the law authorizes the Department of Agriculture to cooperate through planning and cost sharing with state and local agencies in projects to reduce flooding and to preserve and improve the renewable resources of headwater drainages, including soil, water, wildlife, forests, and associated recreational features (see Kimball, 19641.
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From page 164... ...
Relative to wildlife they said: Federal technical and financial aid are both available for the enhancement of fish and wildlife resources in connection with small watershed programs. Enhancement measures are those that create, increase or improve fish and wildlife habitat.
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From page 165... ...
, himself a former employee of the Soil Conservation Service. He indicated that in southeastern states some 50 million acres were covered by Public Law 566 applications, and he expressed concern over the plans: .
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From page 166... ...
This conversion of wildland to cropland was and still is inconsistent with accelerated private and local, state, and federal governmental efforts to maintain and restore wetlands and other types of wildlife habitat. It was in response to these conflicting developments that a joint review committee was formed by the Soil Conservation Service and the Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife.
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From page 167... ...
State and local agencies have faced important financial obstacles to their participation in small watershed projects. Poole (1968)
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From page 168... ...
Relatively little has been accomplished in others. Siltation-Product of Disturbance On uplands the subsoil exposed by water and wind erosion is largely barren as wildlife habitat.
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From page 169... ...
It is evident that turbidity is a major factor in degrading water as used for recreational purposes, even aside from adverse effects on wildlife resources. Progress in the conservation of topsoil on agricultural lands has been steady, it being the primary mission of the Soil Conservation Service since the mid-thirties.
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From page 170... ...
It is habitat for fur animals, squirrels, wood ducks, arid many kinds of songbirds. A survey of streambank wildlife habitat in Kentucky (Russell, 1966)
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From page 171... ...
Mining the Watershed Directly or indirectly, surface mining has adversely affected wildlife habitat involving 1 2,898 miles of stream, 281 natural lakes, 168 reservoirs, and 1,687,288 acres of land (U.S. Department of the Interior, 1967~.
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From page 172... ...
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 usefulness as wetlands, forests, ranges, croplands, and special wildlife habitats and greatly affects the public welfare.
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From page 173... ...
A further amendment in 1958 gave authority to the construction agencies to improve and develop wildlife resources, with the stated purpose
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From page 174... ...
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.
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From page 175... ...
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.
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From page 176... ...
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 dynamics with mechanized controls.
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From page 177... ...
: The Council proposes that Federal flood control and other water resource development 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)
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From page 178... ...
1969. Report on drainage trends in the prairie pothole region of Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota.
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From page 179... ...
1966. A survey of streambank wildlife habitat.
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From page 180... ...
U.S. Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife.
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