138 Union Bay 



and consumption strike a balance so that there is little mate- 

 rial left after the consumers of that material have finished 

 with it. But, here, much was left apparently unused. I passed 

 over the submerged plants of the bay. I could see minnows 

 and now and then larger fish as they slowly swam through 

 the lacery of the vegetation. The mallards and the coots fed 

 in such areas but there was little evidence of disturbance or 

 of any considerable use of the plants. I moved through the 

 canals and inside channels: the knotweed in the coves stood 

 knee-high and untouched by feeding animals. The muskrats 

 had done so little damage to the cattails and bulrushes that 

 it was not easy to see where they had been working.. Evi- 

 dence of overfeeding was totally lacking. The whole marsh 

 appeared lush and fresh. When the fallmigrants arrived thev 

 would find it as inviting as an irrigated meadow which had 

 been saved for winter pasture. 



It occurred to me that perhaps this need for winter food 

 was partly the answer to the reason for this oversupply. 

 When the hunting pressure in the marsh was so light that 

 wild fowl lived and nested in numbers, there had been more 

 use of these marsh facilities by the residents, and the propor- 

 tion of consumption to production probably had been greater. 

 But the marsh is now better equipped to carry out its role 

 of wildlife hotel. Here the hard-pressed migrants will find 

 food ready for them, as the food of a city hotel might be 

 stored and ready for the rush of guests soon to begin. 



I suspect that the indirect use of the marsh vegetation may 

 be of more value than would be its direct use by man. The 

 wildlife of the area receives its primary requirements of food 

 and shelter from this vegetation. It enables the food chains to 

 operate so that the life of the marsh may continue. The sur- 

 plus is available to those visitors which so regularly take ad- 

 vantage of it. And perhaps it is not too much to say that the 

 beauty of such untouched areas has a value which, though 

 intangible, is considerable. 





