9460

• UCREFRP Catalog Number: 9460
• Author: Wentz, W. A.
• Title: Wetlands Values and Management.
• USFW Year: 1981.
• USFW - Doc Type: Washington, D.C.
• Copyright Material: NO

pheasants, may depend on wetlands for
winter cover or even for areas to raise
their young.
The values of wetlands to wildlife can
be only partially calculated in economic
terms. While later pages in this booklet
will stress the money to be made from
wildlife in wetlands the greatest value of
wetlands wildlife must be the aesthetic
beauty and the feeling of kinship that
humans sense from these animals.
Wetlands provide numerous products
that humans use. Some communities hold
festivals that revolve around wetland
products such as muskrats, ducks, or
crayfish. Animals that are hunted and
trapped are used for food and clothing.
Beyond these obvious products wetlands
also produce such things as bullfrogs, fish

bait items such as minnows or leeches,
and specialty plant foods such as wild
rice, cranberries, and even cattail. The list
could go on and on, and would include
such items as dried plants for flower
arrangements and live insectivorous
plants. Many landowners have developed
sound management and harvest pro-
grams that allow them to make a profit
from such wetland products. Careful man-
agement of wetlands allows some land-
owners to use them for aquaculture to
raise food organisms, such as crayfish,
carp, or bullfrogs, and bait fishes, such as
minnows.

9