When it's all wet... Halfway between land and water is a complex and vied-for property called marsh or wet land. Whether it borders the ocean or a tiny creek, it is a vital part of the life of many wildlife species and a scenic part of the horizon. It's also prone to being filled in or drained for farming or freeways or many urban uses; dredged for minerals or easier navigation; or flooded for larger lakes. Helping identify wetland areas, encourage their dedication for wildlife, and make better habitat through conservation work is one job of SCS. Several articles this month tell of efforts by landowners, local conservation districts, SCS, and others in this regard. Elsewhere in the issue other action for wildlife improvement is detailed, along with stories of conservation accomplishment on other fronts. 170 What it's worth to us 192 Wind cave at its best Prepared in the Division of Information, Soil Conservation Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, D.C. 20250 CLIFFORD M. HARDIN, Secretary of Agriculture KENNETH E. GRANT, Administrator, Soil Conservation Service BEN O. OSBORN, Editor GEORGIE A. KELLER, Production Editor SOIL CONSERVATION is the official magazine of the Soil Conservation Servi lished monthly by direction of the Secretary of Agriculture as administrative tion required for proper transaction of the public business. Use of funds for this publication approved by the Director of the Bureau of the Budget July 1 Reprint permission: Contents of this magazine may be reprinted without specs mission. Credit is not required but is appreciated. Photos available on request. Commercial names: Mention of commercial enterprises or brand names does not tute endorsement or imply preference by the Department of Agriculture. Subscription: $2.00 per year, $2.50 foreign. Single copy 25 cents. Discount of 3on orders of 100 or more sent to same address. Order direct from Superintend Documents, Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. 20402. gigantic garden designed especially for geese." That's how pecialists of the Ohio Division of Wildlife describe the Mosquito reek Goose Management Refuge in ortheastern Ohio. Work done at Mosquito Creek and Management of Canada geese, County Soil and Water Conservation Through the district, the Soil Conservation Service surveyed the wet soils of the site, made an inventory of needs, and helped the Wildlife Division work out a long-range program of development to "provide the needed wide expanse of open land composed primarily of corn, fall-seeded grain, and low-growth meadows as feeding areas for Canada geese." The wild Canadian is a fieldfeeder with a taste for grains. Above all, he is a creature of water and wide open spaces who mistrusts close quarters of any type. The conservation plan for Mosquito Creek was tailored to suit his needs perfectly. Cropping to provide corn, small grains, clover, and seed-producing grasses is practiced on 350 acres. Cornstalks are chopped down in the field, as geese are skittish of standing plants. Extra corn is harvested in normal fashion, then distributed to concentrated feeding areas. Cropped land on the refuge benefits from proper liming, fertilizing, and crop rotation. Rough, hard-tomanage fields have been seeded to permanent meadows to protect the soil and to provide "grazing" for geese. Regular annual mowing prevents invasion by scrub brush. The conservationists found it necessary to install an extensive system of drains in the area before its wet soils could be cultivated or harvested. This drainage system includes miles of carefully channeled waterways that form open spaces highly prized by the big waterfowl. Its inter-connected ponds and lagoons offer the birds many sanctu aries for resting, nesting, and feeding. Long, level ditches on the refuge look like drain channels, but aren't. They are moats that protect the geese from predators. The soil removed to create these ditches is placed on the downslope sides and seeded, creating added space for loafing and nesting. These conservation measures have helped to increase the state's goose population sixteenfold since 1958. Even more encouraging is the fact that Ohio refuge areas produced more than 8,000 locally hatched geese at the most recent tally. Fourteen years ago, the score was 250. This is the real payoff, according Game Protector Norm Myers. M Myers says, "The geese tend to r turn to places where they learned fly. It's a sure thing we get a lot hometowners stopping here no And they lead a lot of transients with them." Several hundred permits f shooting blinds within a 5-mile rad us of Mosquito Creek are taken o annually by eligible landowner Daily shooting fees for hunte range from $20 to $25 a perso And the shooters spend money cally for food, lodging, gas, a provisions, adding to the benef from the refuge. What an individu waterfowler spends to bag a sing goose may range all the way up $75 a bird. More profound values of neig boring communities are seen in t increasing numbers of students, bir watchers, tour-groups, and other vi itors who are drawn to witness th spectacular flights in spring and fa They outnumber the gunners co siderably. BERNHARD A. Rom public information officer, SC Upper Darby, Pa. By Irvin L. Sonnier and Dolan Kleinpeter State construction engineer, SCS, Alexandria, La., and district conservationist, SCS, New Iberia, La. rawfish, frogs, ducks, fish, and furbearing animals like a Louisia watershed project and so do e Cajun bayou dwellers who hunt em. The Lower Bayou Teche Watershed Project was designed to ake the environment better for ildlife as well as for people. In the years from 1930 to 1960, ads, canals, and other structures ere built in the area's marshes. hese caused water levels in the wet nds to change daily. The marsh ied up when it shouldn't have, and other times water got too high. his destroyed plant life and drove vay the birds and animals dependit on it. It also ruined the habitat muskrat and other creatures hich must have a constant water vel at which to build their nests dens. The Lower Bayou Teche Project as designed to stabilize water levels in the marshes and at the same time to improve 168 miles of drainage and flood-prevention channels. Begun in October 1965, the project is sponsored by the Iberia Parish Police Jury in cooperation with three soil and water conservation districts -Iberia-Vermilion, Lafayette, and St. Mary. The Police Jury is constructing a fourth of the project with its own funds and equipment, and the Soil Conservation Service is providing the rest of the funds under Public Law 566. To provide outlets for local farmers' cropland drainage systems, ditches were excavated through marshes in the southern part of the project area adjoining the Gulf of Mexico. But, channel improvement through these low-lying sites was not designed to convert any of the wet land to farmland but to improve the wildlife habitat of the area. Spoil from channels excavated in marshes, swamps, and wooded areas was shaped with a bulldozer (or, in wet areas, a dragline bucket) to create wildlife habitat and make maintenance and access easier. Contractors in close cooperation with the local landowners placed spoil in the marsh adjacent to the channel in such a way that it could be used to create ponds for crawfish, ducks, and geese. Landowners already have constructed eight such ponds. Spoil banks not only serve as levees for marshes and ponds but also provide cover and homesites for rabbits, deer, and other animals. And they afford easier access to the wildlife areas. Rights-of-way were cleared with bulldozers where conditions were dry. In wet areas the trees were cleared with power saws. Spoil was |