The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-10-29
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
Information Bureau
FREDERIC j. HAsKIN, Director.
Washington, D. G.
PUBLIC HUNTING GROUND PLAN.

L
Washington, D. c., Oct. 25-I
The creation of public duck-hunt-
ing marshes, where the game will be
scientifically protected as it is in the
great private hunting club grounds,
but where any citizen of the United
States may hunt in the open season
by paying one dollar to the federal
government, is now being urged by
the secretary of agriculture.
The plan is embodied in a bill which
has been introduced in the house by
Representative Anthony and in the
senate by Senator New. If it does not
pass, it will probably be because of
the failure of American sportsmen to
hear about it and demand its passage,
for it will be an undoubted boon to
them.
Good hunting and a free range is
what the measure means to the four
or five millions of American gunners.
but it means a good deal more than
that to the government scientists who
have framed it. They say agriculture
requires that a large part of the re-
naming marsh lands and ponds in
this country be kept in their natural
state. If the draining of them goes
steadily on. the internal economy of
the soil is going to suffer
This presumably does not apply to
the coastal regions of the south, where
the whole country is one vast swamp
for miles and miles But thruout the
New England and middle Atlantic
states, the middle west and west,
ponds and marshes have become
steadily fewer for many years. Most
of them have been drained and con-
verted into farm lands and factory
sites. Even the great swamp wilder
nesses of the south, which begin with
the Dismal Swamp south of Norfolk,
Va, and extend in an almost I'M
frir RI Ever
glades in Florida, are beginning to be
invaded by the drainage canal and the
settler.
Drainage Makes Drouth.
This drainage of swamps was long
regarded as a good thing, and up to
a certain point it is, but the experts
have found that when nearly all of
the ponds and marshes in a given
region have been drained, the land is
impoverished. The water table-that
is, the level of the underground water
falls. This makes the region more
susceptible to drouth. 1t affects the
growth of forests and the flow Of
streams. 1t upsets the balance of ma
ture. If this draining goes on un-
| checked, the agricultural value of
great areas of land will be impaired.
Furthermore, the experts point out
that if these marshes and ponds are
rightly used, they often produce more
than the land under them would pro-
duce if drained. They are the natural
| home of fur bearing animals and of
fish. If the taking of these creatures
| is controlled so that they are kept
at maximum abundance, marsh or
| pond may make a considerable yield per
acre in fish and fur, nor to- mention
wild fowl. Many marshes m addition
yield grasses valuable as hay, and in
| manufactures. Marshes and ponds
| give a supply of natural ice. In
word, such water area, rightly used.
| is a great asset to a community, and
| indiscriminate drainage is as short
| sighted as indiscriminate cutting OF
| timber to make new fields.
B e ST d these considerations,
| marshes and ponds are necessary to
| the success of the migratory bird law.
| This law, which protects the wild fowl
and other migratory birds in their
! spring flight northward, has already
| succeeded to the extent that it has
made wild fowl more abundant than
| they have been in century. 1t has
| enabled them to reach their northern
breeding grounds without molestation
in the spring. But their haunts in this
| country, when they return south in
| the fall, have been greatly restricted.
! The wild duck is in the position of be-
| ing. all protected and no place to go.
Costs Money to Hunt.
Then again, an increasing number
| of the places where ducks winter are
privately owned and controlled, and
| the demand for private hunting
| grounds by clubs and wealthy indi-
viduals is on the increase. In many
| cases whole marshes are owned. In
| other cases, where the areas involved
are too large for ownership, like Back
| Bay, Virginia, clubs own nearly all of
the desirable water frontage, and all
| of the best points upon which blinds
may be built. The chances for. the
poor man to go duck hunting are be-
/ ct G1i
who does not belong to a club, good
duck hunting costs from $40 to $40 a
day, including the hire of a guide, a
motorboat, a sink-box and a fleet of
decoys. The number of the places
where you can go out in your own
boat and paddle about with any hope
, of getting a shot is very small.
The AnthOny-New bill provides that
the department of agriculture shall
buy or rent suitable areas of ponds
and marshes in all of the states. The
| maintenance of these preserves is to
be paid for by a federal hunting Ii
cense of S1.o0, to be paid by every cit
| izen who shoots over the government
/ preserves.
These areas are to be scientifically
administered. They will be stocked
with fish, and the plants which fur
nish the best food for wild fowl will
be introduced. The birds will be care
fully protected in the closed seasons,
and the areas will be public hunting
J grounds in the open season. They will
also furnish good fishing, swimming
land camping. They will be places
where school children can go for pic
mics and for purposes of nature study.
Many picturesque regions, which
otherwise would soon be drained, will
be saved by this measure if it becomes
a law. The famous Kankakee marshes
in Indiana, for example, which have
been favorite resort Of sportsmen
and naturalists for a hundred years,
would be an excellent area for govern
ment administration.