:"'pr;RTA:;cE CF habit^.t and waterfowl use 



-dbTtat loss in the f^lathead Valley is difficult to document. N'o agency 

 Tonitors changes In wetland habitat. During the field review of delineation 

 ccPDleted in 1986, biologists noted one delineated wetland that had been 

 crained. Another v;etland was crisscrossed with dikes, apoarently to conserve 

 surface water for irrigation Dumoing. Several delineated wetlands have 

 i '■"igation oumos stationed on the shoreline. The impact of those Dumping 

 activities is unknown since there is no monitoring by the F'WS . 



Another threat is residential development in upland nesting habitat. 

 SuDdivision of land is slowly occurring in the Flathead Valley. Most of that 

 acfvity is in wooded areas where houses have been built close to wetlands. 

 The most important impact of that is not on the wetland, but the loss of 

 uplands for nestinq. In agricultural areas near Kalispell residential 

 developments also result in more disturbance by humans and pets. 



Waterfowl use in the area is hign with good productivity. A study by John 

 Lokemoen Pigee) found the highest published density of redheads in North 

 America. Lokemoen ' s study documented 25 redhead pairs per square mile on 686 

 potholes near Ninepipe MWR. Bell rose (1976) made specific mention of western 

 Montana as an important breeding area for redheads. FWS breeding pair counts 

 \/p'-^.fy high duck use in Lake County where a 4-year average on three Waterfowl 

 Production Areas (WPA) was l.S pairs/wet acre. 



Breeding pair counts in both counties point to good waterfowl use of small 

 wetlands and relatively low use on large wetlands. Smith Lake, which totals 

 about 2,340 acres of which over 1,400 are wetland, had only 154 breeding pairs 

 in 1986. The estimated breeding pair density was .1 pairs per acre of 

 wet! and. 



The FWS identified Lake and Flathead County wetlands as the top two 

 acauisition priorities for redhead habitat in western Mont^ra. An estimated 

 6,000 redheads breed in western Montana. The FWS now inc'u^es the Flathead 

 Valley in Category 7 for waterfowl habitat acquisition (Ac'.ondix 2). Category 

 7 IS the number seven priority on a national list of eleven categories. 



