PREFACE 



In 1970, the goal of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency of a clean 

 environment for the Nation was a vast departure from the past decades of 

 thoughtless, unrelenting pollution of our natural resources. The neglect resulted in 

 lakes, streams and estuaries fouled with sewage and industrial wastes, silt laden 

 rivers, municipal point and non-point source discharges and a variety of unsightly 

 trash. However, during the decade of the 1970s signs began to appear that indeed the 

 Nation had taken a different viewpoint towards the environment, and we began to see 

 visible changes in the environment. The steadfast determination of the public leaders, 

 government officials and industry, working in a cooperative atmosphere, resulted in 

 a noticeable improvement in the health and vigor of our biological communities. This 

 monograph "Research on Fish and Wildlife Habitat," produced cooperatively with 

 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, provides insights to research progress during the 

 decade of the 1970s that helped pave the way for a cleaner, more productive 

 environment for the 1980s. 



The new national care for the environment, beginning in the 1970s, needs to be 

 nurtured in future decades and will be dependent in large measure on the success of 

 research and development programs in the areas of effective non-point source 

 discharge controls, contaminants clean up, and consideration of habitat development 

 in the planning and management processes. Attention to fish and wildlife habitat 

 research will result in substantial gains for these natural resources during the next 

 decade and will help fulfill the EPA Administrator's role of leadership in major 

 research and demonstration of technology necessary to provide for the protection 

 and propagation offish, shellfish, and wildlife and recreation in and on the waters of 

 the Nation. 



IV 



