Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1924-01-24
WILD GAME LIFE
NOT ENDAN GER ED
E. r. Jones Asserts Clear
ing and Drainage of Land
Need Not Extinguish 1t.

I'VE have been clearing and dram
ing land In Wisconsin for seventy-five
years, and we haven't yet half of the
cut-over land cleared, nor a quarter Of
the@wet land drained. On that basis
you can figure to a nicely that the
wild duck and the bullfrog still have
good long lease on life"
This was the statement of e. r.
Jones, state drainage engineer, in an
sWering sportsmen of the state who
believe that land drainage will de-
prive them of their happy hunting
grounds and will result in the extinc-
ton of wild game life.
Jones believes that land drainage,
land clearing, reforestation and game
preservation can proceed hand in
hand if an intelligent constructive pro-
gram is followed by each. He sug-
gests that only the better agricultural
lands be selected for drainage and
clearing, letting the fish and the game
abound in submarginaI lands. It is
his belief, however, that the state or
federal government should buy up or
lease well selected lands with the
moneys obtained from the fishermen
and hunters as license fees.
Game FIourishes Along bitches.
Even on the same areas drainage
may not be inimical to wild life, iac-
cording to this drainage authority. He
cites the fact that there are more fish
In the fresh water of the bitches of the
Portage drainage district than there
ever were in the Stagnant pools before
drainage. Similarly he insists that
there is more fur trapped along the
ditch banks in the Cutler district than
there was on the marshes before drain
ing and the trapper does not need
rubber boots to attend to his traps.
And 1t is his belief that there are
more prairie chicken thriving on the
shelled buckwheat of the stubble fields
of square mile of the Little Yellow
drainage district than could thrive on
two square miles Of wild vegetation.
Jones points out that drainage
bitches with wet bottoms serve as bar
riers that marsh fire cannot cross.
The terrible fires that cooked all the
game on the marshes of central Wis
consin in 1893 have not been repeated
since drainage. They still have fires,
but these fires are confined to limited
areas and when the fire reaches a
wet ditch it spreads no further.
How Farmers Feel.
INicooYciy 70 mn o,.c ~, io-v fcb;,,er
trips and do not object to city folks
who come out to fish on their land, ex-
cept, perhaps, when they leave gates
open or knock down pasture fences.
But Jones has found that they hate
to be told to keep their land wet and
unproductive for the sake of allowing
somebody to hunt or fish there.
AS the farmer has paid for his
land, and every year he must pay
taxes on it, can anyone blame him for
wanting to improve this land by drain
age if the land is worth draining 2.
asks Jones. IF his land is not worth
draining he will seek the opinion Of
men who know the value Of thorough
drainage rather than that of men who
merely like good fishing on somebody
else's land"
Jones warns that the drainage OBJ
structionists would have US believe
that the Horizon marsh in Dodge coun-
ty and the Winneshiek bottoms in
Crawford county are worthless for ag-
riculture. He declares that the al
legged failure Of the Horizon is due
to the duck hunters who wouldn't let
the farmers drain it as deeply as they
wanted to; that the Winneshiek bot
toms contain some of the richest silt
soil on the Mississippi bottoms; and
that there are plenty of less expensive
lands that may be set aside for game.