areas are in condition to be of maximum service 

 to wildlife without considerable development. 



This was especially true of those acquired under 

 the submarginal land retirement act : all of those 

 lands required restoration of water and vegetation 

 for wildlife food and cover. Each area must lie 

 carefully studied to determine its peculiar defi- 

 ciencies and the special measures needed to over- 

 come them. Along the eastern coast where salt 

 water is predominant, fresh-water ponds are de- 

 veloped to provide diversified habitat and to in- 

 crease the utility of the refuges. In coastal 

 marshes, water levels are stabilized to permit the 

 growth of more desirable vegetation; in dry areas 

 of the West, reservoirs are constructed to hold the 

 spring runoff for maintenance of nesting and 

 feeding marshes. 



The development of the Souris Refuges in North 

 I )akota provides a fine example of the steps needed 

 to build a refuge literally from the ground up. 

 By the early 1930's, when drought struck the 

 Prairie States, practically all of the historic 

 waterfowl marshes of the Souris River loop had 

 been drained. The potholes scattered over the 

 surrounding prairies which produced and cared 

 for hundreds of thousands of waterfowl lost their 

 lifegiving waters, and without the Souris River 

 marshes the birds had no place to go. 



The Souris area was selected as the first major 

 waterfowl restoration project in Ding Darling's 

 program, and restoration of the valley marshes 

 was the initial step. CCC camps were moved into 

 the area, and a series of dikes and water-control 

 structures, five in all. were constructed across the 

 valley floor to impound the river and form shal- 

 low-water pools and wide marshes. Waterfowl 

 food plants were shipped in from Other areas and 

 planted by hand. The area was fenced. Aban- 

 doned farmlands were rehabilitated. 



Bui this was not enough. A study of the stream- 

 flow records of the Souris River showed that in 

 some years the spring runoff was negligible, and 

 that by late summer the river ceased to flow. 

 These records indicated that such conditions had 

 previously occurred for periods of two or more 

 consecutive years. The answer was evident. 

 Water storage must be provided above the marshes 

 which were to he restored to their former produc- 

 tivity. So a high dam was constructed across tin- 

 valley north of the shallow impoundments, and 

 i he needed storage was thus provided. This res- 

 ervoir, since named Lake Darling, has a capacity 



Burning the tops of brush to expose green shoots 

 for geese at Mattamuskeet in North Carolina. 



of 117,(100 acre-feet, and the Service attempts to 

 maintain a minimum of 90,000 acre-feet of water 

 in storage. This will maintain the pools below 

 the reservoir through -1 years of water shortage on 

 the basis of a 45,000-acre-foot annual water re- 

 quirement. 



The Souris River refuges were acquired with 

 emergency funds provided under the drought- 

 relief program. Development costs of more than 

 $1,500,000 came partly from emergency funds 

 and partly from Duck Stamp funds. The result 

 was the most important waterfowl nesting and 

 feeding concentration point in the Prairie States. 



Another example : The famous 50,000-acre Mat- 

 tamuskeet National Wildlife Refuge in North 

 Carolina looks like a natural area. An abandoned 

 drainage project reverted to its former stadi- 

 as a lake, is one's first impression. The real story 

 is far from being that simple. Old outlet ditches 

 had to be deepened and new ones dug to permit 

 the lowering of water levels m summer to get in- 

 creased growth of shoreline vegetation. In these 

 moist shoreline flats, willow and other shrub 

 growth had to be eliminated with bulldozers and 

 disks to allow three-square bulrush, a top duck and 



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