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CONSERVATION OF FISH AND WILDLIFE IN THE.C<;>LORADORIVER BASIN .. John C. Gatlin, Regional Director, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service .. Conservation of fish and wildlife is big business. Nationally last year 70, ODD, 000 people spent over $70,000,000 for hunting and fishing licenses. California collected over $2,000,000, Arizona $423,000 and Nevada $346,000 for hunting licenses. California sold over a million fishing licenses for $3,217,000. In addition, sportsmen spent many millions on expenses of hunting and fishing trips. Game that is resident within the borders of any state by law belongs to the people of that state and is held in custody for them by that state game and fish departments. Migratory birds, however, fall within the jurisdiction of the Fish and Wildlife Service, by treaties with Canada in 1916 and Mexico in 1937. Ducks and geese, for example, are not perma- nent residents in Canada, the United States, or Mexico, or any individual state. They move north in the spring and south in the fall into Mexico, Central America, and farther south. They are a mobile resource that cannot be administered by anyone state or country. II In this country the natural feeding and resting grounds for migratory birds are being rapidly replaced by other uses. In the last 25 years about 31 million acres of land have been drained. Much early drainage was ill- advised because no soil analyses were made, and it wall found later that much of the mar sh area would have produced more value per acre in muskrat skins than in agriculture. Land suitable for agriculture should be used for that purpose, but land that will not produce crops probably should not be drained. Disappearance of natural food supplies of migra- tory birds means the Government and states must provide feed to keep the birds from destroying commercial crops. Already there are serious depredations of crops by migratory birds in Imperial Valley and Sacramento Valley. . ~ National wildlife refuges in the Lower Colorado River Basin at Lake Havasu and in Imperial Valley help to make multiple use of land. The Ha- vallu refuge overlays reclamation withdrawals,' but does not impair the primary purpose of reclamation. The upper end of the Havasu Refuge could be cultivated to produce feed for migratory birds and entice them away from agricultural areas. However, there are legal difficulties. Raising of feed for the birds will require water for irrigation. We believe that by removing the phreatophytes, placing the land under cultivation, and impounding water only during winter months when evaporation is low, we can save water. However, others are skeptical. It is a serious question not yet resolved. At any rate, the Service will not develop irri. gation in the Refuge until the present Supreme Court case is settled and until a qona fide water right can be established. Similar possibilities exist in the Imperial Valley Refuge, but there too it is a question of the availability of water. . Under Public Law 732, referred to as the Coordination Act, the Fish and Wildlife Service and state game departments for the first time were given opportunity to participate with the Corps of Engineers and Bureau -37-