side of the Continental Divide, south and east of the Mis- 

 souri River on a north-south line with Carbon, Yellowstone, 

 Golden Valley and Petroleum Counties, and six counties west 

 of the Continental Divide. These indexes were used to find 

 areas with wetlands which appeared good for waterfowl pro- 

 duction. The indexes were supplemented with 12" x 12" 

 photographs of 4 inches to 1 mile scale of areas with po- 

 tential delineations. These photos were used in totalling 

 delineated wetland acres by county and will later be used 

 by Realty Specialists in acquisition. 



2 Aerial Reconnaisance . . 



The information aathered from aerial flights was minimal 

 and was gained in a few seconds and passes over a particular 

 wetland. To minimize the cost and time spent in the aircraft 

 many hours were spent with aerial photo indexes on the 

 ground mapping flight routes and specific wetlands to check. 



During June and July 1975, 76 hours flight time was logged 

 surveying wetlands. Information recorded during the flight 

 over a wetland was legal description, class and cover type, 

 dominant vegetation by species (emergent and submergent), 

 upland conditions, waterfowl present (use and broods). 

 All information was recorded on a tape recorder and trans- 

 cribed on the ground. 



Problems associated with the aerial survey were: (D early 

 in the season it was difficult to judge what cover type 

 was typical for a particular wetland, (2) the late chrono- 

 logical season during 1975 associated with hngh precipitation 

 in many parts of the state made it difficult to accurately 

 determine wetland classiTication, average water levels 

 and breeding pair information. These problems were overcome 

 somewhat by noting last year's growth of vegetation, con- 

 ditions during previous aerial photo coverages, and preci- 

 pitation records. This supplemental information helped 

 in establishing "average water conditions." 



Aerial surveys saved many hours over ground delineation. 

 Aerial coverage was not as intensive or complete as ground 

 surveys, but were judged accurate enough, when correlated 

 with other sources of information, to reach decisions as 

 to wetland values. 



3. Ground Checks 



Where possible, certain areas were spot-checked for accuracy 

 in estimating water depth, emergent and submergent vegeta- 



12 



