:#i#n ..^» ^^^"-'^"^' '"" '^" " ^ 



^ ^,-^.— ■..■.•:5*.!,*«e^ 



Figure 18. — This heavy concentration of houses on part of a Virginia tidal marsh, 

 supplied by a windmill-pumped well during drought, illustrates the influence of fresh 

 water on the distribution of the muskrat population. 



Marsh walking becomes extremely 

 difficult in thick growths of saw- 

 grass, bullwhip, and reed. By 

 opening up a series of connecting 

 ditches, pirogues or narrow, flat- 

 bottomed mudboats can be used, and 

 traps set along the levees or ditch 

 banks used by muskrats, raccoons, 

 minks, and otters for feeding and 

 travel lanes. The system of small 

 ditches also carries off excessive 

 storm and flood waters, but retains 

 water during periods of drought. 

 Care should be taken in ditch con- 

 struction to prevent any general 

 lowering of the' water table on 



which the desired type of plant 

 formation is so dependent. 



It is wasted effort to attempt to 

 drain soft, floating types of marsh, 

 but "eat-outs," which are spots in 

 the marsh denuded of vegetation by 

 muskrats (fig. 19), should be tem- 

 porarily drained. Otherwise they 

 quickly deteriorate into stagnating 

 muck flats or expanses of open wa- 

 ter. Immediate drainage to remove 

 stagnating water allows sunlight 

 to reach the bottom and create bet- 

 ter conditions for seed germination 

 and revegetation. Neglected, these 

 spots may take years to come back. 



*0'f% 



Figure 19. — Beginning of an "eat-out" on a Maryland marsh. Intense trapping should 

 be started long before this stage is reached. 



13 



