Saskatchewan wetland reservation program : Millard Wright and Dennis Hooey. final report /

In recent years we have come to realize that our resources of wildlife and wildlife habitat are perhaps not as renewable as we once thought.Only four decades ago water was the answer to declining waterfowl populations. We now know that it takes more than water to produce ducks.Water must be on the southern prairies, the grasslands and the aspen parklands..... The continental waterfowl population fluctuates with water conditions on the prairies. In drought years, waterfowl populations decline regardless of the fact that abundant water is available in the north. Prairie potholes...filled with water...constitute the most fruitful duck producing medium in the world. Given a few wet years, the prairie country can pyramid duck numbers to startling proportions. Several successive drought years bring an inevitable crash.The prairie ponds are the key to future waterfowling. Without them no harvestable surplus can be produced. Destruction by drainage, filling and agricultural encroachment m