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UUU(lt~~.1 -17- considered a threatened species in several other States. Ring-necked pheasants, a valuable hunting resource, have suffered severe population declines in several States. Quail surpluse$ are beginning to disappear as habitat declines over Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, and portions of Missouri. Of the upland game birds, only wild turkey populations have increased during the past decade. Further enhancement is limited, however, because of lack of suitable woodland habitat. Aquatic Bioloqical Resources The natural lakes and streams of the basin contain mostly plant and animal life common to other major river basins in North America. In the Missouri River, an original array of native fish species lives in free flowing reaches. However, several species, the sturgeons, the paddlefish, and several forage types, have become rare, threatened, or endangered. Others such as the sauger and blue catfish have also greatly declined in number. Consequently, the quality of sport fishing is generally only fair. Tributaries of the upper Missouri, Yellowstone, and Platte Rivers and the alpine lakes in Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana have cold waters which support high quality trout fisheries. Management of the larger reservoirs has at times produced high quality fisheries of trout, bass, northern pike, and walleye. High quality warm water natural streams, especially the Gasconade and Niangua Rivers in Missouri, contain a highly diverse population of fish. Although drainage has eliminated many of the wetlands in the lower States of the basin, extensive areas still exist in Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, and in the Nebraska Sand Hills. Duck populations have varied, but the goose population has been more stable during the past decades and has increased slightly. In some semiarid portions of the basin, development of small rese~voirs and stockponds has enhanced waterfowl population$. This development has only partially offset the loss of natural wetlands. Historically, other aquatic or aquatic-dependent species have not fared as well as waterfowl. Large furbearers such as the river otter, now nearly extinct in the basin, and various large birds such as the endangered whooping crane, and to a lesser degree, the northern bald eagle, the white pelican, the trumpeter swan, and the osprey, fall in this category.