et eon Os brOINe (BeUjlaL BAIT N ff 
2 ST Se ee eee a a a Ne 
The vexing problem is the protection of existing wildlife habitat on 
privately owned lands. The great bulk of the waterfowl in normal years is 
produced in the marshes and ponds and potholes on the thousands of farms 
and ranches scattered throughout the breeding range. The permanent waters 
on State and Federal refuges and the larger lakes are exceedingly important 
in drouth years, as they are toward the end of normal seasons when smaller 
areas dry up and the birds move their flocks to the pools prepared for them. 
Many of them are exceedingly important nesting areas. But the privately 
owned land always have, and I hope always will, provide the bulk of the 
ducks and geese that make up the fall flight. 
The drainage of privately owned marsh lands has been greatly en- 
couraged and accelerated in recent years by the payment of subsidies for 
soil conservation and soil improvement practices under the provisions of the 
Production and Marketing Administration of the Department of Agriculture. 
The drainage of some wet lands is beneficial to waterfowl, such as the 
small shallow areas that normally dry up in midsummer and become death 
traps for fledgling birds. But there are literally thousands of other sloughs 
and potholes throughout the vast expanse of the Prairie States, each of which 
produce or help produce from a scattered few to many broods each year. 
Many of these are bound to disappear permanently in this program unless 
some means can be found to keep them as they are now. 
The problem is not by any means confined to the breeding range. It is 
“ important as well in the highly important wintering grounds of the Gulf 
Coast. Here also payments are made to convert wet lands into pastures. We 
have recently gone to considerable lengths to avoid having ditches dug out- 
side the boundary line of our most important wintering refuges on the Gulf 
Coast. If constructed, this ditch would improve the pasture situation for four 
cattle men, but would also lead, in our opinion, to the destruction of thirty 
or forty thousand acres of excellent waterfowl marsh, purchased at a cost of 
many thousands of dollars of wildlife funds. 
ft fl ft 
Burns Ditch Harbor Proposal. A promotional scheme to develop a 
harbor and industrial city at the mouth of Burns Ditch between Ogden 
Dunes and Dune Acres succeeded in getting a recommendation by the Dis- 
trict army engineers office in Chicago to the Washington office for a sur- 
vey of this region. A hearing was set for October 15. After three post- 
ponements, this hearing was held on January 31. 
Conservationists in northern Indiana and the Chicago region have been 
working during the past year to defeat this pork barrel scheme and to 
try to save the last remaining portion of the famous Indiana dunes not 
already occupied by private residences, industry, and the Indiana Dunes 
State Park. The area in question extends for about five miles along the 
south shore of Lake Michigan. It is much used by naturalists and for 
recreation. 
The Indiana Dunes State Park, tho fine, is too small. It extends for 
about three and one half miles east of Dune Acres. It is a great pity that 
the entire region from Ogden Dunes to this park was not included in the 
park as a National Monument, at the time of the establishment of 
the Park. This would have had an extent of about twelve miles along the 
south shore of Lake Michigan. 
5716 S. Stony Island Avenue, Chicago 
Epiror's Note: The above article is the first of a series proposed by Dr. 
R. M. Strong describing current events of the Society and some of the 
conservation problems in which we are all so vitally concerned. We hope 
by this means to give you a clearer picture of the work the Society is try- 
ing to do, and to notify you when action is needed to support programs in- 
volving protection of our birds, wild life, or natural resources. 
