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Mr. DENTON. Will you give the committee a status report on your soil and moisture work?

Mr. GOTTSCHALK. Would you like to have that for the record?
Mr. DENTON. Just give us a general summary.

Mr. GOTTSCHALK. Well, what we try to do with our soil and water program of course is to try to improve the capability of the land to support wildlife.

Mr. DENTON. Yes.

Mr. GOTTSCHALK. I think we have had some classic examples of where the application of modern soil management techniques to our, say, our farming operation where we raise corn for goose feed, or where we raise winter wheat for goose browse, forage for them, have proven to be very, very profitable, and I think we have made real good use of this money.

We have added agronomists, agricultural specialists, in a number of our regions to give technical agricultural guidance to the refuge program under this soil and moisture program, and I think we have developed a capability that is well recognized.

For example, at one of our refuges over here in Delaware, the Soil Conservation Service regularly takes groups of farmers around to our refuge to use that as a demonstration area to show what has been accomplished through the application of good soil and moisture management techniques on this flat land over there.

I do not have at hand here a detailed recitation of the numbers of acres of the various types that have been treated under the soil and moisture program but I would be glad to supply that.

Mr. DENTON. Put it in the record.

Mr. GOTTSCHALK. All right.

(The information follows:)

STATEMENT CONCERNING NUMBER ACRES TREATED THROUGH SOIL AND MOISTURE CONSERVATION PROGRAM IN FISCAL YEARS 1966 AND 1967

By the end of fiscal year 1966, about 50,000 acres will have received intensive application of soil and moisture conservation practices.

It is estimated that in fiscal year 1967, about 100,000 acres will receive intensive application of soil and moisture conservation practices. The increase in acres to be treated while maintaining the same appropriation level is due to the greater use of less costly treatments such as seeding, deferred grazing, and small dams.

Treatments used will be those which restore, protect, and improve the soil, water, and plant resources of refuge lands. These resources are not static. They will retrogress to a poorer condition and reduced capacity to serve wildlife and the public unless they receive the necessary conservation treatments.

MANAGEMENT AND ENFORCEMENT

Mr. DENTON. Next is "Management and enforcement."
Insert pages 43 through 50 of the justifications.

(The pages follow :)

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The estimate for 1967 is $3,406,000 and 208 permanent positions, an increase of $17,000 over 1966. This increase is for pay costs.

The estimate for enforcement of the black bass law, amounting to $18,000 and two permanent positions, has been transferred to this activity from fish hatcheries.

Program of work.-The estimate of $3,406,000 will be used in developing and executing a program of game management. Pertinent to fulfilling this purpose, continentwide studies and inventories are conducted annually to gather selective and factual data and information on the population status of migratory birds. The findings are correlated with previous years' collected data, analyzed, and evaluated. A judgment is then made of the population status and the annual hunting regulations are established governing the take of the predetermined surpluses of migratory birds. One hundred and fifty-five game management agents and eight flyway biologist-airplane pilots are responsible for carrying out this program at the field level.

The functional breakdown of this estimate is as follows:

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The geographic scope of the management and enforcement program is continentwide. Migratory bird surveys and banding work is carried out in the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands, Canada, and Mexico. Enforcement of the Federal game laws and regulations, including the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, as amended (16 U.S.C. 703–711), and the Lacey Act (18 U.S.C. 42-44), regulating interstate and foreign commerce in birds, mammals, reptiles, fish, and amphibians is carried out in the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.

This program directly affects the resource but more importantly the millions of people who enjoy a wide variety of wildlife oriented outdoor recreation. It is vital in maintaining the populations of North American migratory birds. In addition to the approximately 2 million duck hunters, there are unnumbered thousands of hunters of woodcock, snipe, white-winged doves, band-tailed pigeons, rails, and gallinules. Recent studies indicate that of all the species of migratory birds, the mourning dove supports more hunting opportunities than any other, including ducks and geese. The latest estimate of the annual kill of doves is in excess of 19 million birds, which greatly exceeds the annual kill of all species of ducks combined. With more leisure time, increasing numbers of hunters are looking for more game to hunt and woodcock, jacksnipe, and pigeons are pursued more avidly each year.

These millions of migratory bird hunters have a tremendous impact on local and national economy. They spend, in the aggregate, large sums of money annually for the purchase of shotguns and shells, boats, outboard motors, gas and oil, clothing, board and lodging, transportation, guides, club dues, and personal services. The economic importance nationally of this natural resource is shared on an international basis by substantial contributions to the economy of the Canadian Provinces and the various Mexican States.

In 1967 emphasis will be directed toward improvement of the professional abilities of program personnel through formalized and expanded training in the most up-to-date advances in theory, philosophy, and techniques of game law enforcement and management; to continue the push into the wilderness area of northern Canada conducting waterfowl breeding ground surveys and banding work; and to continue definite action on behalf of advising and informing the general public on the conservation needs. The benefits derived from this positive growth program will be reflected in the uniformity of approach to management of the wildlife resources, in establishing widespread appreciation and understanding of the need to preserve and protect the Nation's wildlife, and in acquiring a high level of statistical reliability on the population status data which will in turn provide hunting regulations of maximum benefit to the resource and the hunting public.

The total estimate is broken down by State and foreign countries as follows:

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Federal game law enforcement was strengthened through a stepped-up program specifically aimed at reducing the increasing traffic in unlawful importations into this country of wild game illegally taken in Mexico. A coordinated law enforcement program was organized by the Bureau in cooperation with the Bureau of Customs, Coast Guard, Immigration and Naturalization Service, State game departments, and the Mexican Department of Game and Forests. It met

with immediate success. Preseason publicity given the program nationwide resulted in a marked reduction in game law violations in Mexico, fewer efforts to smuggle game across the border into the United States, and an increase in game import declarations.

Program personnel developed a game law enforcement handbook for use as a training aid in teaching the fundamentals of game law enforcement techniques to Federal and State personnel who are assigned enforcement duties on a parttime basis. In use, the handbook has been of great value in enhancing the professional abilities of these workers in the field of conservation.

A comprehensive manual has been completed and distributed. It provides ready reference to Bureau policies, procedures, standards, enforcement techniques, and statutory authorities governing the operations of the management and enforcement program.

Procedures were revised for the printing and distributing of copies of the annual migratory game bird hunting regulations. This has resulted in making the regulations available to the public 2 weeks earlier than usual and at less cost to the Government.

Revised migratory bird permit regulations adopted in fiscal year 1966 will facilitate the administration of the regulations by relieving an estimated 3,000 individuals from the responsibility of obtaining Federal permits for propagating purposes and submitting annual reports of permit activities.

Further improvements in administration of the permit system have made available to American Indian religious groups, public museums, and educational institutions, the feathers of dead bald and golden eagles and other protected birds. Better protection is thereby afforded to live, healthy birds and the feathers necessary to Indian religious ceremonies, for studies and displays, are obtainable. In accordance with amended statutory authority, new and revised regulations were developed and adopted to control importations of species of wild mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, crustaceans, amphibians, and mollusks deemed to be injurious or potentially injurious to the best interests of humans, agriculture, horticulture, forestry, native wildlife, or necessary wildlife habitat of the United States. Bureau enforcement officers participate annually in the apprehension and prosecution of nearly 10,000 violators of Federal and State laws for the protection of wildlife. Reporting these violations in a uniform manner with coding of vital information and the final termination of cases, was begun in 1966 fiscal year. Recording of facts in an automatic data processing system to facilitate subsequent tabulation of specific data will expedite the compilation of information with marked savings of time and improved accuracy.

Migratory waterfowl surveys and banding have been expanded to encompass all the major habitat areas of the North American Continent. A minimum of 50 banding stations are operated annually from Tampico on the gulf coast and Los Mochis on the Pacific coast of Mexico to the Bering Sea of Alaska and eastward across the Arctic to the Ungava Peninsula of northeastern Quebec. A uniform, statistically randomized aerial breeding population survey is conducted twice each summer from the Great Plains States northward across the continent from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Nine crews of pilot-biologists now fly approximately 1,000 hours on each of these surveys. The information derived from this systematic continentwide program has resulted in a more sophisticated approach to migratory waterfowl management.

During the past 2 years an aerial census technique was developed for the inventory of golden eagles on their wintering area. The census technique has been tested on two 12,000-square-mile study areas in Texas and New Mexico. An accurate inventory is a necessary first step in the management of eagles in

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