Of Men and Marshes

10. of marshes and man and harmonious use

10, of marshes and man and harmonious use The great cartoons of my fellow-Iowan, J. N. ("Ding") Darling, were prodding the public conscience on land abuses-pollution, erosive farming, excessive deforestation and drainage- long before I became a resident of the state. They depicted the incongruities of wasting what we have at home and then expecting to go somewhere else for the enjoyment of hunting, fishing, and outdoor beauty. Many of them dealt- with drainage versus marshes and marsh life. When I ponder my wetland philosophy, I recognize that some drainage to eliminate troublesome wet spots can be well conceived -always providing that it does not go too far. But drainage does have ways of going too far! We have long gotten past the stage of being able to afford more drainage excesses. Concerning the North American marsh situation, Harold Titus published an informative article entitled, "Tomorrow is too late!" The glacial marshes of Iowa may now be considered drained, except for the marshes that are state-owned and a few undrained marshes still in private ownership . As far north as The Pas, in Manitoba, agricultural drainage has eliminated, or is threatening, some of the best waterfowl and fur areas of the continent. It is time for a reversal in the drainage trend. As members of of marshes and man and harmonious use 125 a presumably rational and enlightened society, do we need to let the destruction of our wetland values continue as long as someone feels able personally to profit thereby? • • In some regions, the recommended types of agricultural land use may favor (or at least permit) retention of marshes. In 1953, I heard an illustrated lecture by J. W. Kimball, then of the Office of River Basin Studies, U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, about the superb waterfowl breeding grounds known as the pothole country of Minnesota and the Dakotas. A large proportion of this pothole country is rolling terrain, with the fertile soils on the hills being shallow and erodable, and for which agriculturists advocate grassland farming. At present, the temptation for farmers of the pothole country to cultivate the hills is pronounced and will remain so as long as the regional economy is on a grain-raising basis. Kimball cited, in his lecture, researches showing big differences in value of beef produced on poor and on fertile soils and concluded that a shift to grassland farming should be encouraged in the pothole country before loss of the soil fertility of the hills resulted from cultivation. Benefits to marshes and marsh wildlife to be gained through such a system of grassland farming would still depend upon exactly what was done or not done. A landholder might still, as through overgrazing , wreck both soil and marsh values without having any land under cultivation, but the over-all application of sound methods of husbandry could be compatible with preservation of marsh values. The role of marshes and lakes in maintaining ground water levels of a region does not seem fully understood. Perhaps few acceptable generalizations go much further than "It depends . .." Nevertheless, the matter of sinking water tables is becoming so vital to our civilization that we as a public may properly review our programs for draining surface waters to see whether they might have their reckless aspects from this standpoint, alone. I have lived long enough to observe public reactions to dust bowls and dry wells and to wet years, alike. Nothing so much as a water shortage resurrects the slogan, "Keep the water on the land," but, when we again have water on the land, how quickly it becomes something to get rid of! Here, again, it should not seem inappropriate for the American public to strive for balanced judgment rather than to 126 of marshes and man and harmonious use swing back and forth from extreme to extreme in our handling of water, even though we may not know all the answers and may never know them. Drainage systems that channel surface waters into streams having tendencies to flood, and to contribute to flood damage farther downstream, may not be considered sound, irrespective of how advantageous they may be for certain property owners along the way. Drainage into reservoirs can be better engineering, especially if the watershed be suitably protected from erosion. I can conceive of projects of this sort that could well safeguard the economic interests of a community. But I still...