Excerpt from Information on Waterfowl Protection Program at Kesterson Reservoir Kesterson Reservoir consists of 12 shallow ponds with a total water-surface area of about acres and an average depth of about 4 feet. The Bureau designed it to regu late flows in the San Luis Drain, a canal that was originally planned to discharge to the western Delta at Suisun Bay. The partially completed drain ends at Kesterson Reser voir, which the Bureau is using to store and evaporate agricultural drainage water from about acres near Mendota. Kesterson Reservoir is just east of Gustine at the northern end of an area commonly known as the grasslands. The grasslands are mainly marsh and pasture lands in the flood plain of the San Joaquin River and provide important wintering habitat for waterfowl on the Pacific flyway. The San Joaquin River di vides the lands into the east grasslands, which covers about acres, and the west grasslands, which includes about acres. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Excerpt from The Waterfowl Councils, Vol. 78: A Conservation Partnership It's doubtful if many duck hunters know the answer to that question. Yet these Councils are responsible for the planning of many programs that will influence the kind of duck hunting these same Sportsmen will have in the future. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

This is the first comprehensive environmental history of California’s Great Central Valley, where extensive freshwater and tidal wetlands once provided critical habitat for tens of millions of migratory waterfowl. Weaving together ecology, grassroots politics, and public policy, Philip Garone tells how California’s wetlands were nearly obliterated by vast irrigation and reclamation projects, but have been brought back from the brink of total destruction by the organized efforts of duck hunters, whistle-blowing scientists, and a broad coalition of conservationists. Garone examines the many demands that have been made on the Valley’s natural resources, especially by large-scale agriculture, and traces the unforeseen ecological consequences of our unrestrained manipulation of nature. He also investigates changing public and scientific attitudes that are now ushering in an era of unprecedented protection for wildlife and wetlands in California and the nation.

Management of wild waterfowl has become increasingly intensive. Many birds now hatch in managed nesting cover or in artificial nesting structures, use man-made wetlands, and winter on crowded refuges while consuming a grain diet The water they use is often limited in supply and may contain residues from its many prior users. Unfortunately, intensified management often results in new problems, among which disease is important There are many similarities between the current form of management used for some waterfowl and that used in domestic animals. In both, the objective is to maintain a healthy, productive population. Dealing with health problems in waterfowl will benefit from combining the skills of veterinary medicine and wildlife ecology. Revisiting this book after 15 years allowed me to consider changes at the interface between the two disciplines. Veterinary medicine traditionally has been concerned with the individual and with treating sick animals, while the ecologist is concerned with populations and the manager has limited interest in treating sick birds. During this period there has been a marked increase in awareness among veterinarians that they have a responsibility in wildlife and conservation biology. Curricula of many veterinary colleges now include material on non-domestic animals and attempt to put disease in an ecological context. Also during this time, waterfowl managers have become more aware of disease as a factor in population biology and there are early attempts to put numbers to "disease" in models of continental waterfowl populations.