THE WATERFOWL COUNCILS 



A Conservation Partnership 



What is a Waterfowl Council? 



It's doubtful if many duck hunters know the answer to that 

 question. Yet these Councils are responsible for the planning of 

 many programs that will influence the kind of duck hunting these 

 same sportsmen will have in the future. 



Because the activities of the Waterfowl Councils do mean 

 so much to so many people—not only to duck hunters but to the 

 millions of people who get their fun just watching the birds— 

 this circular has been prepared to tell the Council story. Its pur- 

 pose is to explain the basic waterfowl problem and the current 

 approach to a solution, why the Councils came into existence, 

 how they are organized, what they seek to do to improve manage- 

 ment of the waterfowl resource, and ways in which interested 

 people can help to achieve the goals that the Waterfowl Councils 

 establish. 



Right at the outset it should be explained that the Federal 

 Government under international treaties with Canada and Mexico 

 is responsible for the conservation—that also includes manage- 

 ment--of migratory waterfowl. The discharge of that responsibility 

 rests with the U. S. Department of the Interior and, more specifi- 

 cally, with the Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife of the Fish 

 and Wildlife Service. However, the Service recognizes that Uncle 

 Sam by himself can never do the job that's called for in waterfowl 

 management. He must have the active assistance of every other 



The desire to preserve such scenes as this fathered the Waterfowl 

 Councils 



