8095

• UCREFRP Catalog Number: 8095
• Author: National Research Council.
• Title: Impacts of Emerging Agricultural Trends on Fish and Wildlife Habitat.
• USFW Year: 1982.
• USFW - Doc Type: Washington, D.C.
• Copyright Material: NO

balance of nutrients and chemicals is critical for the biomass and the
fish and wildlife habitats of the estuary.

THE FUTURE IN PERSPECTIVE

The future for wildlife and their habitats is not encouraging in those
areas where intensive practices are employed to produce larger amounts
of food and fiber. There is urgent need to balance the value of using
the most efficient and economical agricultural practices--
beneficial to our national welfare--and the value of maintaining or
improving wherever possible the quality and quantity of fish and
wildlife habitats--one critical index of quality of human life in our
country. These are not mutually exclusive values, and much can be
done with deliberate, intelligent planning plus effective stewardship
and management of our natural resources.
The development of the united States occurred under the general
assumption that land and water resources were nearly unlimited. Our
production systems under this assumption attempted to maximize the
agricultural output per unit of area. Agriculture, like other sectors
of the economy, now is faced with the need to protect and enhance
resources, not only for agricultural use but for other uses and values
as well.
AS a nation we are learning that we must optimize, or make the
best possible use of, all our resources instead of maximizing the
output of agriculture alone. Optimization requires consideration not
only of a longer time period, but also of a broader array of both
positive and negative outcomes of production systems, including
impacts on habitats for fish and wildlife.
The Committee's recommendations center on three requirements for
optimization: (1) changes in attitudes and values, (2) additional
critical research, and (3) public policies that are consistent and
that make use of incentives.
With respect to the requirement for changes in attitudes and
values toward the use of our resources to achieve multiple objectives
including agricultural production and wildlife habitats, the following
recommendations are offered:

1. promote, through all types of education, public understanding
of the multiple values and benefits, including economic, recreational,
aesthetic, and ecological, of improved stewardship of fish and
wildlife resources.
2. Increase public understanding and awareness, through research
and extension, of how present agricultural and forestry practices
affect wildlife habitats.
3. Through public policy and education, encourage the adoption
of management practices and systems such as soil and water
conservation that can both sustain high levels of agricultural and
forestry output and increase fish and wildlife populations.
4. Educate policymakers, producers, and the public as to the
critical importance of timing in dealing with the dynamics of

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