86. Goldstein, J.H,, project officer. 1988. The impact of Federal programs 

 on wetlands, volume I: the lower Mississippi alluvial plain and the prairie 

 pothole region. 114 pp. Department of the Interior, Washington, DC. 



This publication encompasses a major research effort as well as an 

 important policy review section. Some of the research on the prairie pothole 

 region in volume one is by McColloch and Wissman; it is the same research 

 reported earlier in a brief note by McColloch, Wissman, and Richardson (see 

 [81]). The conclusions that McColloch and Wissman reach in the farm simulation 

 model discussed in this lengthy monograph are essentially reversed in the 

 discussion of the policy implications of the research. A review of the 

 McColloch, Wissman, Richardson article ([81]) by Goldstein and Wilen (see [80]) 

 sketches the analytic logic and date interpretation underlying Goldstein's policy 

 position. 



This monograph includes a policy review and recommendation section; an 

 econometric analysis of the clearing, conversion, and drainage of forested 

 bottomland hardwoods; and a farm simulation study of the same (clearance, 

 conversion, and drainage of forested bottomland hardwoods) topic. The major 

 study and policy conclusions reached by Goldstein and his staff are manifold. 

 Briefly, the principal conclusions reached in the study for the forested 

 bottomland hardwoods encompass the following points: (1) Federal flood control 

 and drainage projects built in the delta during 1935-1984 accounted for about 

 25% of total wetland loss, the single most significant factor underlying wetland 

 loss during the period; (2) the mainline levee system, which was largely built 

 before 1935, is the second-most important factor underlying wetland loss; (3) the 

 clearing of forested wetlands has been highly profitable in the past, but 

 economic conditions no longer favor this type of investment; (4) Federal income 

 subsidies, price crop supports, and special tax code provisions significantly 

 increased the profitability and reduced the risk of conversion and agricultural 

 development in the Delta; and (5) the swampbuster provisions of the Food Security 

 Act of 1985 and changes in the tax code provisions that formerly favored wetland 

 drainage will have a major impact on the rate of wetland conversion in the delta. 



For the prairies, the following points summarize the principal study 

 conclusions: (1) general economic conditions as they impinge on the net pecuniary 

 and nonpecuniary returns to wetland drainage investment are the most important 

 factor affecting the rate of drainage and conversion of wetlands in the prairie 

 pothole region; (2) Federal farm programs, including price and income supports, 

 have had a major impact on drainage rates; (3) tax incentives for wetland 

 drainage have not had a major impact in this region; (4) drainage of prairie 

 potholes has been aided by outlet ditches provided through construction of 

 Federally aided highways; (5) major wetlands losses have been induced, in part 

 or wholly, by Federal water management programs, including the construction of 

 five large dams and reservoirs on the mainstem of the Missouri; (6) PI -566 stream 

 channelization also induced considerable wetland drainage; and (7) the 

 swampbuster provisions of the 1985 Food Security Act will be effective in 

 reducing the rate of wetland losses of on-farm wetlands if they are vigorously 

 enforced. 



The various policy recommendations build on recently enacted Federal 

 legislation, such as the swampbuster provisions of the 1985 Food Security Act 



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