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Show herds of mountain sheep in Colorado. Overpopu- lation of big game has resulted from game refuges and various restrictions on hunting. Nearly 60 problem herds of deer and elk have appeared which are causing severe erosion in some of the high mountain country. Upland game birds include several species of grouse, and wild turkey are still found in the upper reaches of the San Juan River in New Mexico and Colorado and along the Salt and Verde Rivers in Arizona. Although the waterfowl habitat is rather limited, the Colorado River is a migration route with im- portant marsh land areas in the headwaters in Wyoming and along the lower river in Arizona and California. The Fish and Wildlife Service has jurisdiction over 930,000 acres of refuges in the basin, and su- pervises fish and wildlife management on 2,935,000 acres of national park lands. The Forest Service manages the game resources on some 25 million acres of national forest lands, the home of most big game in the basin. The action program of the Fish and Wildlife Service includes three activities concerned with water resources development: development, op- eration, and maintenance of national wildlife refuges; construction, operation, and maintenance of Federal fish culture facilities; and State wild- life restoration projects developed and maintained by the State conservation agencies in cooperation with the Service under the Federal aid to wildlife restoration program.6 Each of these three activi- ties is dependent upon water resources, but the de- gree of dependency varies between activities and between the specific projects within each general activity. The Forest Service applies management methods to keep game population within bounds and to apply multiple-purpose management prin- ciples in which soil and water considerations are dominant when conflicts in range use, recreation, or other forest uses are involved. Within the basin there are seven national wildlife refuges in Arizona, California, Nevada, and Utah. •Act of September 2, 1937, §3, 50 Stat. 917, as amended, 16 U. S. G. 669b. Known as the Pittman- Robertson Act, the law authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to cooperate with the States in rehabilitating and developing wildlife resources. For this purpose, the Secretary of the Interior is further authorized to appor- tion money to the States from a fund established in the Treasury. The fund consists of revenues from taxes on firearms and cartridges. They have been established for the protection of waterfowl, bighorn sheep, mule deer, antelope, peccary, and upland game birds. The Fish and Wildlife Service has also established a trout-culture station in Arizona. Program for Development The relatively small remaining area of marsh available for waterfowl habitat in the lower basin will be adversely affected by projects of the Bureau of Reclamation, which include river dredging in and near the Havasu National Wildlife Refuge in California and Arizona. A potential waterfowl restoration project known as the Upper Havasu wildlife restoration project is proposed as partial mitigation for serious losses of waterfowl and other aquatic wildlife which will result. The project area of about 15,000 acres is extremely valuable wildlife habitat. However, unless restriction is made, much of its value will be lost as a result of the dredging features of the Colorado Front and Levee System Project. The Arizona Game and Fish Department proposes to acquire the lands in the project area and it is proposed that the facilities would be installed by the Bureau of Reclamation. A water right of 20,000 acre-feet annually would be necessary for this restoration project. Included in the program for enhancement of waterfowl habitat in the basin are several State- sponsored projects to be financed under provisions of the Pittman-Robertson Act.7 These are: the Mittri Lake wildlife restoration project, a proposed and much needed waterfowl habitat on Bureau of Reclamation withdrawal lands in Yuma County, Ariz.; Long Lake, an area which would be im- proved by the Arizona Game and Fish Department on Showlow Creek in Navajo County, Ariz., on private and national forest lands; Escudilla Lake wildlife restoration project on Coyote Creek in Apache County, Ariz., proposed primarily for use by waterfowl; Tucker wildlife restoration project, proposed for development in the lower basin on private land in Navajo County, by the Arizona Game and Fish Department (its purpose is an off- stream reservoir for waterfowl); and Jackson Lake wildlife restoration project proposed in the upper basin by the New Mexico Game and Fish Depart- ment for development in the drainage of the La Plata River in San Juan County, to improve water- fowl and upland game habitat by increasing storage 'Ibid. 377 |