IV. Summary of Wetland Survey - 1974-1975 



A. Fee Delineations ^ 



To say that the values and ratings of the wetlands delineated 

 from this study are "etched in rock" would not be realistic. 

 Establishing the value of a particular area relied heavily 

 on what was seen from low level flights over wetlands. What 

 was observed was what that particular wetland or complex had 

 on it at that time and on that day. As mentioned earlier in 

 this report, other aids such as old aerial photos and 

 precipitation records were correlated to give a better picture 

 of what the wetland would really look like seven years out of 

 ten. This was what the rating was based on. No matter how 

 many records or notes are made about a particular area, however, 

 what one sees at any one cime has a great impression on the 

 final decision. Therefore, there may be a bias. 



It was difficult, for example, to overlook the fact that many 

 wetlands I observed in the Great Falls area in August, 1975, 

 had many duck broods on them, but checking additional aids 

 and physical features of the marshes convinced me that thr^e 

 to four years of average precipitation would find the are5s 

 dry farmed or at best foxtail meadows. On the other hand, 

 a series of wet years could change the whole class of 

 temporaries to permanent marshes for upwards of five to ten 

 years. I have tried to look at the delineations objectively 

 for a best estimate of what they can produce most years. 



As close to 100"* of all marshes with what I consider to have 

 waterfowl production potential were checked as was physically 

 possible at this time. I am sure that in years to come 

 biologists will say "Here is a good area," or "Why was this 

 one left out?" It is my hope that as new areas hr<s. located 

 or as these current delineations ^ro. studied and better 

 "judgments" of wetland values are made, they will be changed. 



From these guidelines each county's delineations are found 

 in the appropriate county folder filed in the Area Office, 

 Billings, Montana. All delineations for each county are 

 ranked in order of highest total rating of all four criteria 

 and merely need to be referred to in order to find out 

 which delineation ranked highest in that county. Many 

 delineations were ranked with the same number of total 

 points in the same county, but all one has to do is look 

 at the various rating criteria to determine where that 

 particular wetland would "fit." 



A total of 252 delineations were selected for Montana 

 (Table 2). Each delineation consists of a wetland or 

 complex of wetlands with enough associated upland so that 

 it can be managed for optimum production of waterfowl. 

 The average size delineation is 538 acres with a 



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