FIGURE 27.—A flock of snow .geese that makes its headquarters at Malheur Lake Bird Refuge in southeastern Oregon
BIRD Refuges Play Indispensable Part in Saving Wild Life
In utilizing native wild life for food and pleasure and in occupying for his own purposes lands and waters necessary for its maintenance, man has reduced the numbers of almost all species of native birds and mammals, and some he has exterminated. Corrective measures were at first taken by the enactment of protective laws, but long ago it became apparent that mere protection is insufficient to perpetuate the various species. To provide sanctuaries where certain wild mammals and birds may propagate, feed, and rest without molestation is fully as important as are other conservation measures.
Refuge areas are being established by the Federal Government, by the several States, by conservation organizations, and by private individuals, and so great is the need for such resorts that there is a large field of work for all agencies. The Federal Government has created refuges on suitable public lands from the Arctic to Porto Rico and from the Atlantic coast to the Hawaiian Islands. At present there are approximately 80 of these administered by the Bureau of Biological Survey to accommodate to-some degree practically all the important species of birds and many of the valuable mammals found in North America. Congress also has enacted suitable legislation for the protection of animals and property on Federal reservations. Furthermore, to fulfill its obligations under treaty with Great Britain Congress passed the migratory-bird treaty act in 1918, and now it is generally conceded that the migratory birds that regularly cross the boundary between Canada and the United States are proper subjects for special protection by the Federal Government. On February 18, 1929, President. Coolidge approved the migratory-bird conservation act which authorizes Federal appropriations for the establishment of large areas throughout the entire country to be maintained as inviolate sanctuaries—feeding, nesting, and resting grounds where forever the migrating species of birds may enjoy complete protection. The entrance of the Federal Government into migratory-bird protection, supplementary to that afforded by the States, has meant the saving of many of the forms from extinction and the numerical increase of others.
Many of the reservations administered by the Biological Survey are islands along ocean and lake coasts, dnd these serve as nesting grounds for sea birds. (Fig. 26.) The great need now is for additional marshland areas for ducks, geese, and shore birds. The drainage of areas formerly frequented by such birds has forced the survivors to concentrate on the marshes remaining and in some instances to resort to marshland or alkali lakes where they have contracted disease and died by millions. North American wild fowl can not long withstand such losses in addition to the thinning of their ranks by hunters. It is therefore of the utmost importance to the welfare of marsh-loving birds that numerous additional areas be set aside in suitable places throughout the United States where the former haunts of the birds have been reduced or where private holdings and extensive utilization of marshlands for hunting clubs have reduced the number of places where the birds may find sanctuary.
The few reservations now maintained by the Biological Survey that are primarily adapted for ducks, geese, swans, and shore birds are serving admirably their chief purpose. An example of this is the Lake Malheur Bird Refuge in southeastern Oregon, a marsh about 5 by 20 miles in extent, where large numbers of ducks and geese nest during the summer and where in spring and fall myriads of waterfowl stop on their flights north and south. (Fig. 27.) This area produces food in the form of wild fowl of very great economic importance, and in addition to the birds produced afford healthful recreation to great numbers of western sportsmen.
Big Lake Reservation, in Arkansas, is primarily a wintering ground for immense numbers of ducks, which congregate there from large areas farther north. During the summer, when most of the ducks have returned northward, wood ducks nest there in considerable numbers, and this refuge has undoubtedly been an important factor in the restoration of these birds in that region, where a few years ago they were seriously in danger of extermination.
The Upper Mississippi River Wild Life and Fish Refuge consists of areas of overflowed bottom land extending in a narrow strip about 300 lles down the river from Wabasha, Minn., to Rock Island, Ill. In and spring these areas are frequented by great numbers of ducks and geese on their migrations through the Mississippi Valley, and a limited number of waterfowl nest within its boundaries.
The Savannah River Bird Refuge, near Charleston, S. C., consists of about 2,300 acres of lands that were formerly used for rice growing and were flooded in the course of work on the river channel. This refuge is frequented during fall and winter by many thousands of ducks from the north and during summer by great numbers of wood ducks.
The creation of a large fresh-water marsh at Bear River Bay, an arm of Great Salt Lake, Utah, on lands that are now mainly barren mud flats, was authorized by the Seventieth Congress. Engineering operations are under way for flooding the area and thus provide important nesting, feeding, and resting grounds for large numbers of waterfowl and other birds of many surrounding States.
While most of the reservations administered by the Bureau of Biological Survey ire primarily for birds, all forms of wild life except a few injurious species are given protection on them. Some are favorite recreational areas, and their enjoyment by the public is permitted and encouraged to the fullest extent consistent with the purposes for which they were established. As wild-life lovers come to appreciate the wonderful benefits from such reservations, they insist that means be provided to increase the number and thus remedy in some degree the excessive losses that the wild fowl have suffered by reason of the destruction of their former haunts.