294 Alaskan Science Conference 



banks and Nenana, are smaller, but have a considerable popu- 

 lation of breeding waterfowl. 



On the Arctic Slope there are heavy concentrations of water- 

 fowl in favorable areas, the most important being, on the basis 

 of present information, one lying on the south and east sides of 

 Kotzebue Sound, and another between Point Barrow and the 

 great delta formed by the Colville River. Other important 

 areas include the Cold Bay district on the Alaska Peninsula, a 

 breeding ground for a substantial number of both ducks and 

 geese, the Copper River Flats near Cordova, and the Stikine 

 River Flats at the mouth of that stream near Wrangell. The 

 last three probably have their greatest value as feeding and 

 resting areas for migrating flocks of waterfowl. 



Much of Alaska, while having considerable water area, is 

 thinly populated with waterfowl. It is more heavily populated 

 and probably more productive than similar territory in the 

 Canadian shield (in interior Canada and Labrador) where the 

 underlying rocks furnish relatively little fertility. Many of 

 these more eastern waters are relatively sterile, produce little 

 or no plant or animal life, and waterfowl breeding populations 

 are correspondingly limited. While there are some Alaskan 

 waters which belong in this same class, the majority lie in the 

 tundra and in the great river valleys where better soils and 

 more favorable growing conditions prevail. 



Not all tundra ponds are suitable for waterfowl, or at least 

 used by waterfowl. This condition may be due to insufficient 

 breeding populations to occupy all breeding territory, or it 

 may be due to some less favorable condition that exists in these 

 waters. It is, however, difficult to travel anywhere in Alaska 

 during June or July without finding breeding waterfowl wher- 

 ever water is available. This is true even in the Copper River 

 drainage where lakes are relatively less numerous than in other 

 areas. 



On my first visit to the Yukon-Kuskokwim area, Bristol Bay, 

 and the upper part of the Yukon Valley in 1940, I formed the 

 opinion that the importance of Alaskan waterfowl has been 

 underestimated in the prevailing preoccupation with the critical 



