Although less abundant than the redhead, 
gadwall, or mallard, shovellers are seen in small 
numbers and may be recognized instantly by 
their large bills, highly specialized for surface 
feeding. Shovellers winter chiefly in the South- 
ern States and Mexico. 
largest diversions of water from the Bear River, 
was completed in 1891 and the first water was 
diverted from the river the following spring. 
This and later diversions greatly reduced the 
summer flow, and after a few years little re- 
mained of the once extensive marsh areas. 
Irrigation took its heavy toll of available 
water; drainage, drought, and power projects 
took more. The watersheds were overgrazed 
by sheep and cattle. Ponds, sloughs, and pot- 
holes fluctuated, became temporary, and finally 
dried away. 
The loss of waterfowl habitat was one enemy 
of the waterfowl; the market gunner was an- 
other. Residents of the Valley probably con- 
tributed unwittingly to the destruction of their 
valuable wildlife resource. To the early set- 
tlers it must have seemed that the millions of 
waterfowl and other forms of wildlife that had 
congregated there through the ages would for- 
ever remain sufficiently abundant to satisfy all 
demands. From 1877 ^9^^ more than 200,000 
ducks were killed annually on the Bear River 
marshes for eastern markets. The great flocks 
of the waterfowl began to dwindle. 
Disease was still another menace. Follow- 
ing the reduction of water levels and the crowd- 
ing of great concentrations of birds into smaller 
areas, losses from botulism, a disease resembling 
food poisoning, were first noticed about 1900. 
More and more ducks sickened as the epidemic 
spread over the stagnant waters of the shallow 
alkali flats and in 1910 about half a million died 
around the mouth of the Bear River and in the 
Willard Spur area during the late summer. 
T HE FIRST EFFORTS TO SAVE THE WATERFOWL Were 
made by sportsmen. Several duck clubs organ- 
ized around the turn of the century acted to save 
at least scattered remnants of the once vast marsh 
area. They purchased or leased a large part of 
the remaining marshes around the mouth of the 
river. The Bear River Club, which was organ- 
% 
ized in 1901, owns approximately 8,000 acres of 
choice marshland in the area known as the 
North Bay. This club, its membership made up 
of sportsmen from all parts of the country, has 
aided waterfowl conservation by preserving 
areas where the birds can nest and feed. 
Other, larger, areas had to be added, however, 
and steps taken control disease. Through 
efforts of the Utah Fish and Game Commis- 
sion, western sportsmen’s organizations, and 
Federal officials who had studied the situation, a 
program of attack was developed in 1926 that 
ultimately led to the establishment of the Bear 
River Migratory Bird Refuge by a special act 
of Congress on April 23, 1928. The nearly 
65,000 acres acquired under this act were to be 
“maintained as a refuge and breeding place for 
migratory birds i :luded in the terms of the 
convention between the United States and Great 
Britain for the protection of migratory birds, 
concluded August 16, 1916.” The act provided 
that “at no time shall less than 60 per centum of 
the total acreage of the said refuge be main- 
tained as an inviolate sanctuary for such migra- 
tory birds.” 
The refuge so established embarked on a triple 
program: to devise means of curbing the heavy 
loss of bird life from botulism ; to provide a suit- 
able resting and feeding area for the birds dur- 
ing spring and fall migrations; and to give food 
and shelter to birds that breed in the locality. 
Today any visitor at the refuge can see some 
of the means by which this program was trans- 
lated into action. Near the headquarters a dam 
across the river helps distribute and regulate the 
variable water supply. Canals lead off across 
the marshes, delivering the limited water supply 
to the higher ground and to the various marsh 
areas on the refuge. Nearly 40 miles of earthen 
dikes with gravel beach lines, most of them 
topped with roadways, divide the refuge into 
five impoundment areas, each comprising about 
5,000 acres. The dikes exclude the salty waters 
of the lake and impound fresh water from the 
river. They have also brought about the drying 
of extensive shallow waters and mud flats be- 
yond the dikes — areas which were centers for 
outbreaks of botulism. 
The water of mountain streams brought down 
by the Bear River freshened the marshes once 
they were cut off from the salty lake. Favorite 
duck foods were planted in the bays impounded 
by the dikes, and food and cover plants were 
established along the banks. A small duck 
hospital” was established; there sick ducks by 
the thousand were treated by the injection of an 
antitoxin, were banded, and released. A strik- 
ing example of recovery from botulism was pro- 
vided by one “patient.” A pintail, after treat- 
ment for botulism, was released August 15, 
1942. It was found 83 days later at Palmyra 
Island, a tiny pinprick on a map of the Pacific 
Ocean, 3,600 miles from Bear River. 
