Most areas were not recommended because habitat 

 did not seem to be present for the production 

 of waterfowl . Some areas were found to appear as 

 good habitat (potholes and emergents) but lacked 

 any noticeable use by waterfowl. Those which 

 "appeared good," for example, were usually found 

 as "slumps" of hillsides which seemed to settle 

 unevenly creating small kettles where water was 

 caught. These areas were generally along open 

 mountain fronts and it was suspected that the 

 wetlands may be too high and ice-free too late in 

 spring for good breeding pair use, sterile, or 

 too isolated from the general waterfowl migration 

 patterns. 



Portions of Hill and Valley counties contained 

 numerous shallow wetland basins. It was felt 

 that in very heavy precipitation years some of 

 these areas may hold water long enough for duck 

 production, but generally lacked permanency. Some 

 counties had a few good areas for delineation, 

 but lacked complexes of wetlands for an extensive 

 wetlands program. Counties where large rivers, »* 

 such as the Yellowstone, Gallatin, and Beaverhead 

 had oxbows with marsh vegetation but are not 

 amenable to management and do not have heavy use 

 by waterfowl . 



Moreover, Missoula County, as an example, had 

 many mountain lakes which appeared to have marsh 

 areas, but again had very little use by waterfowl. 

 Also, these areas were found on Forest Service 

 lands where vulnerability is low and acquisition 

 is not realistic. 



B. Easement Recommendations 



Most areas with significant numbers of wetlands were found 

 to contain complexes which merited at least one delineation. 

 Some counties have one or two good delineations but no 

 easement program is recommended because there are essentially 

 no wetland complexes associated with the marshes delineated. 

 Previous memos to the Area Office gave descriptions of 

 areas recommended for an easement program. To date, the 

 counties which have been recommended and approved by the 

 Governor for easements are: Blaine, Chouteau, Daniels, 

 Glacier, Hill, Lewis and Clark, Liberty, Phillips, Pondera, 

 Roosevelt, Sheridan, Teton and Toole (Refer to Table 1). 

 As noted in Table 1, Lake County is recommended for easements, 

 but is not yet approved by the State. 



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