Cover Page

Contents

Preface
Letter

SECTION I

Orientation
Summary

SECTION II

History
Needs
Geography
Historic Sites
Competitors
Economic Aspects

SECTION III

Federal Lands
State and Interstate
Local

SECTION IV

Division of Responsibility
Local
State
Federal
Circulation

SECTION V

Educational Opportunities

Drainage

No problem today so vitally affects the future of our wild waterfowl, and therefore the recreation of millions of people, as the drainage of swamps and marshes. Also no policy that, while obstensibly aiming at the betterment of human welfare, is frequently so utterly fallacious.

The result usually sought by promoters of drainage enterprises is to produce good farm land from land too wet for ordinary agricultural purposes. This can sometimes be done, and in many cases it has been done. Engineers and promoters are always able to cite instances where the removal of excess water has resulted in valuable farm land, so it is well to state frankly that occasionally drainage has been successful. These time-worn cases do not, however, in any way detract from the importance of the question, and, even while admitting their success from the viewpoint of the cereal or truck farmer, it is pertinent to inquire whether or not the value of the water or wet land crops that could have been raised might not have been greater without the tremendous expense of drainage.

As a Nation we leave been dealing with our marshes much as we have with a great many other natural resources—acting first and considering the consequences later.³

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³ Phillips, John C. and Lincoln, Frederick C., American Waterfowl, Boston. Houghton Mifflin Co., 312 pp., illus. (See pp. 69—70.)

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In brief, thousands of square miles of marshland, far and away more valuable for recreational purposes (i. e., for the protection of wildfowl and other aquatic life, and possessing great national interest) than for anything else, have been drained and devoted to submarginal agricultural use. In the past the recreational value of such areas has been brushed aside as a matter of idle sentiment. Not until it was evident that the lost recreation had a dollar-and-cents value, and not until the farm crops had withered on the acid soils of the "reclaimed" marshes, was it realized that marshland per se might have great recreational value.

Phillips and Lincoln give examples of drainage as follows:

With the possible exception of Utah (because of the great Bear River marshes), California easily occupied first place among the Western States in its relative importance to ducks and geese. Old maps indicate a belt of marshland that extended from one end of the Great Valley of California to the other, a region that furnished food and cover for multitudes of wildfowl, while numerous lakes, both large and small, supplied resting and "loafing" grounds. In 1911-13 the Sacramento and San Joaquin drainage district was created by a special act of the legislature, the area included being the lowland along the Sacramento, San Joaquin, and Feather Rivers, from Butte and Glenn Counties on the north to Fresno and Madera Counties on the south. The board of reclamation, appointed by the Governor, has large powers, and in 1929 Dr. H. C. Bryant, of the State division of fish and game, estimated that marshy areas had been reduced at least 90 percent.

Buena Vista Lake, in the southern part of the San Joaquin Valley, is practically dry, and the small area of open water remaining seems to present unfavorable conditions for ducks. Since 1908 large numbers of birds have died each year of disease at this point.

Tulare Lake, at one time the largest body of fresh water in the interior valley, has now been dry for several years. Originally, this lake was reported to have had a water area of about 275 square miles, and was a favorite winter loafing ground for ducks. Here irrigation has been the chief causative factor. By 1914 drought conditions, evaporation, and the cutting off for irrigation purposes of the tributary flow had wiped the lake out of existence.

In 1922 it was filled to a depth of 8 feet, but went dry again in the same year and has since remained so. A great part of the lake bed is now a dry, dusty flat.

In the northeastern part of the State, Lower Klamath Lake presents another example of an excellent wildfowl area that has been destroyed by cutting off its supply of water. Prior to 1917 backwater from the Klamath River entered the Klamath Basin, producing a great region of marsh and the lower Klamath Lake. When the Southern Pacific Railroad constructed a grade across the marsh, it was provided that a gate should be built to cut off the inlet where the railway crossed it. This was done, and the result has been the drying up of the lake and surrounding marsh. Very little of the land uncovered has proved valuable agriculturally, and were it not for Government aid, this project probably would have been abandoned a long time ago. The cost of production has been excessive and "breaking even" is about the best agricultural record for the area. The only water that now flows into the basin is a small amount from a spring in the western part. This is just sufficient to maintain a small pond known as Sheepy Lake, and we learn that, not satisfied with the destruction already wrought, plans are being considered for the drainage of this last remaining water area.

Tule Lake, a few miles east of Lower Klamath, has suffered a similar fate, as its source of water supply is now practically all taken for irrigation. Some water does remain in the "sump", and as this lake has recently (1929) been proclaimed a Federal bird reservation, it is hoped that it can he restored to its rightful condition. It is of great importance since it is one of the two principal wintering grounds of the diminutive cackling goose, a fact that was demonstrated through the banding of these birds on their breeding grounds in Alaska.

In summation it may be said that throughout the length and breadth of this great State many areas have been despoiled by drainage and irrigation activities, until today probably the best of the remaining marshlands available for ducks and geese are those owned and maintained by the duck clubs.⁴

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⁴ Phillips, John C. and Lincoln, Frederick C., op. cit., pp. 82—85.

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Drainage is conducive to rapid run-off, resulting in erosion, streams of flood character, and the depositing of debris.

Certainly, drainage projects should not be under taken without comprehensive knowledge of the ends sought, the values involved, and the probable results.

Continued >>>

Last Modified: Fri, Sep. 5, 2003 10:32:22 am PDT
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