Wetlands of the United States

Their Extent and Their Value To Waterfowl and Other Wildlife

Samuel P. Shaw and C. Gordon Fredine

Preface

Undisturbed marshes, swamps, and overflow lands have many inherent values and a variety of uses. This report is confined to the use of these natural wetlands by wildlife. Millions of Americans rely on wild animals to furnish them with healthful outdoor recreation.

Other values of wetlands include the storage of ground water, the retention of surface water for farm uses, the stabilization of runoff, the reduction or prevention of erosion, the production of timber, the creation of firebreaks, the provision of an outdoor laboratory for students and scientists, and the production of cash crops such as minnows (for bait), marsh hay, wildrice, blueberries, cranberries, and peat moss. Some wetlands provide good fishing.

This report points out relative values of different types of wetlands to wild game in general and to waterfowl in particular. It locates and describes areas that should be protected and improved to meet the needs of a stable or increasing waterfowl population. The information is presented with the fervent hope that it will assist and stimulate the establishment of more comprehensive land-use programs and policies. The inventory was financed largely by funds derived from the sale of Federal Duck Stamps.

The wetlands data on which this report is based were gathered by the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service with the cooperation of various State fish and game agencies. Much of the assessment of waterfowl values was made by State biologists for their respective States.

This resource is based on the following source:

Shaw, Samuel P. and C. Gordon Fredine  1956.  Wetlands of the United States -
     their extent and their value to waterfowl and other wildlife.  U.S.
     Department of the Interior, Washington, D.C.  Circular 39.  67pp.

This resource should be cited as:

Shaw, Samuel P. and C. Gordon Fredine  1956.  Wetlands of the United States -
     their extent and their value to waterfowl and other wildlife.  U.S.
     Department of the Interior, Washington, D.C.  Circular 39.
     Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center Online. 
     http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/wetlands/uswetlan/index.htm
     (Version 05JAN99).

Summary of Chapters

The Problem of Saving Wetlands

The nature of wetlands

Cooperative planning

A Century of Wetland Exploitation

Swamp Land Acts of 1849, 1850, and 1860

Previous inventories

Evidences of wetland losses

Organized drainage enterprises

Other destructive forces

Wetland Soils

Peats and mucks

Alluvial soils

Future outlook

The Wetlands Inventory

Areas covered

Classification

Evaluation

The 20 Wetland Types

Inland fresh areas

Inland saline areas

Coastal fresh areas

Coastal saline areas

Use of the Inventory

Water-control and land-use planning

Flyway management

Wetland preservation and development

Encouraging local wetland projects

Public Waterfowl Areas

Role of refuges

Refuges under public control

Refuges and hunting

Refuge management

Future of refuge programs

Improving Wetlands for Waterfowl

Contributions to Other Wildlife

Glossary of Plant Names

List of References

Text Figures

Figure 1 -- Agricultural land (acreage as of Jan. 1, 1950) in drainage enterprises
Figure 2 -- Extent and present value of wetland types
Figure 3 -- Flyway areas used in analyzing the relative importance of wetland types to waterfowl
Figure 4 -- Typical bog and a dam which made the bog into a good waterfowl pond in New Hampshire
Figure 5 -- Horicon Marsh in Dodge County, Wis.
Figure 6 -- Pothole blasted by Wisconsin Conservation Department in Rat River Marsh, Winnebago County, Wis.
Figure 7 -- Highway pond above Portsmouth, N.H., where new turnpike was used as a dam to impound a former salt marsh
Figure 8 -- Fenced stock-water pond in eastern Montana
Figure 9 -- Marsh in Cattaraugus County, N.Y., Showing stages of watrefowl habitat-improvement project
Figure 10 -- Willow Slough State game Preserve, Newton County, Ind.
Figure 11 -- Pheasant hunters in marsh in Emmett County, Iowa
Figure 12 -- Beaver pond in Michigan, which created good waterfowl habitat

Plates

Plate 1 -- Seasonally flooded basins or flats
Plate 2 -- Inland fresh meadows
Plate 3 -- Inland shallow fresh marshes
Plate 4 -- Inland deep fresh marshes
Plate 5 -- Inland open fresh water
Plate 6 -- Shrub swamps
Plate 7 -- Wooded swamps
Plate 8 -- Bogs
Plate 9 -- Inland saline flats
Plate 10 -- Inland saline marshes
Plate 11 -- Inland open saline water
Plate 12 -- Coastal shallow fresh marshes
Plate 13 -- Coastal deep fresh marshes
Plate 14 -- Coastal open fresh water
Plate 15 -- Coastal salt flats
Plate 16 -- Coastal salt meadows
Plate 17 -- Irregularly flooded salt marshes
Plate 18 -- Regularly flooded salt marshes
Plate 19 -- Sounds and bays
Plate 20 -- Mangrove swamps
Plate 21 -- Distribution of wetlands of the United States

Tables

Table 1 -- Acreage granted to States for swamp reclamation
Table 2 -- Change in wetland acreage since 1850
Table 3 -- Growth and condition of land in drainage enterprises for specified years
Table 4 -- Estimated acreage of fertile, undeveloped land that is physically feasible to provide with drainage in selected humid sections of the United States, 1948
Table 5 -- Description and acreage of wetland types in the United States
Table 6 -- Values of wetlands to waterfowl, based on State-unit determinations
Table 7 -- Use of wetland types by game and fur animals
Table 8 -- Number of game and fur species using wetlands

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