The Cost and Feasibility of Wildlife Habitat Maintenance on Private Lands in the Minnedosa Pothole Country. L.K Colpitts

Includes bibliographical references (p. 97-101)

Intensification of agricultural production on private lands in southwestern Manitoba has depleted wildlife habitat and reduced wildlife numbers concomitantly. An integral component of this dilemma is the failure of landowners to receive remuneration for wildlife produced on their property. The practicum analysis focused on a model to estimate the opportunity cost of converting an acre of active agricultural land to wildlife habitat. This opportunity cost of wildlife habitat maintenance is the net value of the agricultural products that could be produced from the same resources plus the fixed costs of agricultural production. The main thrust of the practicum was concerned with waterfowl wildlife. Literature review demonstrated that evaluation of waterfowl benefits to society in monetary terms was at best extremely difficult. Therefore the attempt to measure the added benefits to waterfowl production from wildlife habitat maintenance was restricted to a model which calculated a range of