i||i- iiill. . ±\ B R.AFLY OF THE UNIVERSITY Of ILLINOIS NATURAL HISTORY SURVEY. STATE OF ILLINOIS Adlai E. Stevenson, Governor DEPARTMENT OF REGISTRATION AND EDUCATION Noble J. Puffer, Director WILDLIFE AND FISHERY VALUES OF BOTTOMLAND LAKES IN ILLINOIS Frank C. Bellrose and Clair T. Rollings Printed by Authority of the State of Illinois NATURAL HISTORY SURVEY Harlow B. Mills, Chief Biological Notes No. 21 Urbana, Illinois June, 1949 •Tj'^i?^^' rspTiHon-- '■flf^F»lr" ^-% •^^.w^ JM^ -7ti Fig. 1. — Typical Illinois River levee. Part of the Illinois River is visible at right and margin of a drained lake basin, planted to corn, at left. In backgrotmd at left is pvimping station. Fig. 2. --Pumping station of levee district bordering the Illinois River. Levee shown in fig. 1 is in background. Surplus water is pumped into the river on the other side of levee to prevent inundation of drained lake basin by seepage or precipitation. WILDLIFE AND FISHERY VALUES OF BOTTOMLAND LAKES IN ILLINOIS Frank C. Bellrose and Clair T. Rollings* Along the Illinois and Mississippi rivers in Illinois are numerous bottomland areas, formerly lakes and marshes, that have been leveed and drained for agriculture, figs. 1, 2, and 3. In the past two decades it has been a matter of public policy to maintain these lands for agricul- ture, even though this policy required the expenditure of large sums of public money in attempts tWjMiiiiiiiiiii HI iiiii,fiPiiTiif> Fig. 3. --View from bluff that overlooks drained lake basin bordering the Illinois River. A drainage ditch is visible near center of picture. In the back- groiind is a levee. Water is pumped from drainage ditches into the river. to prevent flooding of the areas. Raising and improving levees, blocking off about half of the flood plain of the Illinois River valley, have resulted in increasing flood heights (Bellrose 1945) and causing greater damage than previously to cities and towns and unleveed lands in the valley. On levees protecting about 190,000 acres of agricultural land in the Illinois River valley, the state of Illinois spent $1,317,171 ($6,93 per acre) in 1926-1927 and the Corps of Engineers, Department of the Army, $5,405,494 ($28.45 per acre) from that time to 1946. In 1946, the Corps of Engineers' flood control report on the Illinois River Basin outlined addi- tional levee improvements that would total almost $15,000,000 ($78.95 per acre) at 1940 con- struction costs. ♦Frank C. Bellrose. Associate Game Specialist, Illinois Natural ffistory Survey; Clair T. Rollings, Refuge Manager, Mingo National Wildlife Refuge, Puxico, Missouri. Many groups of Illinois citizens interested in conservation, agriculture, and civic affairs have questioned the wisdom of spending huge public sioms to maintain agriculture in river bottomlands. For years, conservation groups have pointed to the recreational value of these lands in the natural state. And, although there has been a general awareness of the money brought into river towns by commercial fishermen, trappers, duck hunters, and sport fisher- men, there have been, unfortunately, few if any figures readily available to support the popular impressions of the amounts of nn.oney involved. To provide sorely needed information on the matter, we have compiled figures on the harvest of commercial fish, sport fish, ducks, and fur per acre of bottomland area; the money received from the sale of conimercial fish and fur; and the money spent by sportsmen to take a vuiit of fish or waterfowl. Many of these figures were obtained from two United States Fish and Wildlife Service refuges in Illinois — Spring Lake, near Savanna, and Lake Chautauqua, near Havana — both of which had once been drained and then restored. METHOD OF ASSESSING VALUES Each area of wild land or water used by man has multiple values. If private, it has tangible values to the owner and also to the public with which the owner does business. Also, it has intangible values to the owner and, where used by other persons, to the public. Tangible values to the owner can be measured by the annual income from the harvest of commercial products -- fish, fur, timber -- and the selling of hvinting and fishing privileges. But how can tangible values to the public, or intangible values to either owner or public, be measured? Public Values:--It is the desire for recreation, not food, that draws multitudes of an- glers to streams, ponds, and lakes, and hunters to marshes, fields, and woodlands. Because of their interest in hunting and fishing, sportsmen spend millions of dollars each year for equipment, transportation, guides, special facilities, lodging, and many other svmdries. The production and distribution of the equipment and the provision of facilities used in hionting and fishing bring em- ployment to many thousands of workers. The dollar is the criterion we recognize best and have used to determine the economic importance to the public of baseball, football, skiing, tennis, golf, and other sports. It is reason- able to determine the tangible value to the public of hunting or fishing on a similar basis--by cal- 4 culating the amount of money the public spends in piirsuit of the sport, in this case in harvesting the various units of game or fish. The tangible cost of a sport is indicative of its intangible val- ue. The money spent by the public to hunt zmd fish is a good measure of the public desire for hunting and fishing, just as the money spent for the man-made sports is a good measure of the public desire for these recreational activities. Items that we have considered valid in assessing the public values of hunting and fish- ing are those that most business firms and state and federal governinents would recognize as legitimate expenses: cost of transportation, lodging, and meals; depreciation on gxin and fishing tackle; cost of ammunition and bait; rent of or depreciation on boat and motor; lease or pur- chase jDf hunting and fishing privileges on private areas; guide fees and license fees. Probably few individuals would have all the expenses listed above, but all would have sonne. Private Values. — Not so high, of course, as public fishing and hunting values are pri- vate values: money accruing to the owner of private lands for providing hunting and fishing fa- cilities and harvesting commercial fish and fur. Over a long period of years, many private lands used for agricvilt\ire would be more profitable to the owner if restored or converted to one or more kinds of wild lands (Hewitt 1942, Bellrose 1945, Penfound & Schneidau 1945). » I k Fig. 4. — In recent years, Illinois hunters have spent an average of about $7.25 for each duck they killed and bagged. WATERFOWL VALUES TO PUBLIC Probably the greatest value of the backwater lakes of the Illinois and Mississippi river valleys lies in duck hunting, fig. 4. About 80 per cent of the ducks killed and bagged in Illinois have been taken inliiese valleys (Bellrose 1947). Shooting pressure is great in Illinois during the 1946 season, 93,387 federal "duck stamps" were sold in the state. The nvimber of hunter-days per acre at public shooting grounds has rzinged from 0.47 to 1.80, table 1, The competition for waterfowl hunting grounds is so great that in recent years sonne tracts have ' sold for over $100 an acre solely for hunting. It is doubtful if the addition of a large nvimber of shooting grounds would reduce the hunting pressure per acre. "In a state of over 7,000,000 people with over 300,000 hunters — the majority of whom are within a few hours drive of most of the waterfowl grounds -- the addition of new areas would probably result in more non-hunters trying their hand at duck shooting, in more upland shooters turning to waterfowl and in a large portion of the present free-lance waterfowlers hunting more frequently" (Bellrose 1944). With similar q\iality of habitat and managennent, areas south of Bureau in the Illi- nois River valley and south of Rock Island in the Mississippi River valley are of comparable value for duck hunting. Migration routes followed by a large proportion of Illinois mallards and lesser scaups enter the two valleys below Bureau and Rock Island, Consequently the bottomland lakes above these two cities are not so valuable per unit of comparable habitat as those below. Qualitative factors cLffecting the value of an area for waterfowl hunting are (1) abun- dauice of natural foods; (2) proximity to an undisturbed area, that is, refuge or rest grounds; (3) size; (4) cover; (5) density of hunters; (6) depth of water. Public shooting areas in the Illinois River valley illustrate a mixture of these quality factors very well, table 1. When quality of habitat of the t>vo types of shooting areas are simi- lar, public grounds yield a greater waterfowl bag per acre (1.68 ducks) than private clubs (1.48 ducks), because they accommodate more hunters who produce greater fire power, table 1. Having determined the waterfo'wl bag on the typical bottomland lake in the Illinois River valley as used by public and private hunting groups, we next need to determine the expen- ditures made in hunting waterfowl. Table 2 reveals the cost of figures as determined from f o u 13 >, u o h (JO 00 .s o o M t (3 o V u u (4 U « ■d V QO 00 a a T3 4) 43 n) H r-l 1-4 QO nl CQ J4 V > << t- t* o ^ o »— i fs. fO rri '^ 1— 1 00 00 o" • O • •-H o o t) .— ( u v a. vO o o c^ e^ C^ I— 1 f— 1 c^ f— t u -^ , un >r) o PO < •* a^ c^- t^- C^ t— 1 PO f— 1 u Hi 1— 1 Oh r- o PO PO ^-1 o c^- PO « 00 00 r<1 a- ro vO (7- «^ p- CO c^ in 1 fSJ O Tj' (M r- in o^ vO in "*. nO fvj vO CO •"J" co' o" (m' PO 1— ( (m' 1—4 rH • H r-( r- ■♦ r- in t- 00 o^ :^ Tt* 0^ CO rsl o r- o ■* ^ • U) f— ( o (M fM PO rj .— < u Q o o CO O O 00 ■* 00 ■* o in t^ 00 >o m -* o^ • • ^H (NJ o i-H ■-H i-H )-H »— I Oh S »-H r- ■^ pg 00 •* o N a- '*' o' o' 00 — - 1 o 1 1^ lO I'd 1 u J, <=> -H O in o o ■* t^ 1 o o V in ^ 00 00 m rr\ o o PO vO o o r n M S;*^ r- ■<*< 00 a-' -H O -H 1 o o 00 * « ak i« • 3 u 2 ^ i—k -H ^ •d . +* H 4) u < -H SO (^ 00 •n a O.S U 3 o "y _ T3 (U •§ .—1 O D « Id .£; u Oh ^ 10 a u .S rt u H P. - ^ u ^ •iH ^H Pi Qi (d u > < 1 T) PO •—4 •J in (d 2 Id 4> ? >« •H M. •H (d 60 jH 2; <« ^ 4) (d h a 3 o ai (d 4) 3 -H ^ <" cd 43 00 4* 3 3 ^1 ■a MH T3 4) ■¥> (A ^'^ "-3 4) o 3 (d (d o 4J u o (d "d u Q,in «.s ^ (d (d I* M rt y -0 -M " T3 4> (d (d (0 > 4) I-H QJ .H L, 33 A (d nO r- ■* 'l' o- s S ^H h ^ A o •d ■d o Id v 4) 00 > T3 •d >< I-H el T3 (d < (3 u ^1 y (d y (d (d ■3 •d d 4) r- o^ +> a o o «< V ■ V a o ■X) « 10 R) ,Q 4) (d to 3 00 o X u ■o Q. 4) (A V P. •a 0) 4) > <; rg* H (- (U x~ r- PO Q. X r- sO f- •*i ^ a~' CT-' a>' SQ ««• o . s in i< s o^ O^ ro ■i ♦^ iS o O^ r- «l in Q • go's rO o' nO i-H (SJ ^H ^ P. in (M rg r- "♦ ro u o v o o o .iife 4A- J r-H •+J r- CO r- ^ Ul vO 00 r~ 4) • o* o' o «A^ •— < +j 00 -o t^ rt Ul in in in v 2U rj rg* , M 00 00 4J +^ So M «l O in in O o o" o* <«^ J '„ 1 ■J5 tC rg C "5 S m ■"f '*'. in • s i:.2 in* ro* ■* ^^ o -J^U <«■ H ft ^ en 4> u l°l ^ nO t~ ■* m r- 1 1 "*< 60 ; 4J u 60 4) +J i—l i U > interviews during the 1947 season with 77 hunters: 41 free-lance and 36 club hunters. Explana- tion of the cost items follows. Transportation expense was figured on the basis of $0.03 per mile; of the 77 duck h\an- ters we interviewed, those at public shooting grounds drove an average of 182 miles per day of hunting and those at private clubs 115 miles; both groups together averaged 151 miles. A larger sample of duck hxmters and the number of miles they traveled was obtained from a report by Lueth (1946) on hunting at the Rice Lake Wildlife Area in 1945. Lueth listed the hunters only by their home counties. Using Lueth' s report, we calculated nnileage for each hunter on the basis of the distance from Rice Lake to the largest city in his county. We determined that the aver- age Rice Lake htinter made a round trip of 151 miles which is, coincidentally, the average mile- age of the 77 hunters we interviewed in 1947. Only 21 of the 77 hunters we interviewed had lodging expense. This totaled $89.45, but, since most hunters staying overnight hxinted two days, we charged half of $44.73 lodging ex- pense against each day of duck hunting by the 77 hunters. Meal cost, about the same for public I and club hunters, amounted to $2.57 per hunter per day. Each public hunter averaged 8.4 shells per day totaling, at $0.08 a shell, $0.67, and each club hunter, 11 shells, totaling $0.88 per day. \ A resident hunting license in Illinois costs $2.00, but, since many waterfowlers also hunt upland ganne, only $1.00 of this sum was charged against duck hunting. To this amount was | added $1.00 for the federal "duck stamp" required of all hunters over 16 years of age. Al- though the shooting club hvinter in Illinois as a whole averages only 3.5 days of duck shooting per year (Bellrose 1947), this type of hunter in some areas of the state averages as much as 6,0 days of shooting per year (Arthur 1948). To be conservative in our depreciation of equipment, we used 5 days of duck hunting per year in prorating annual charges. Shooting-club and daily-fee hunters who were questioned averaged $7.33 per hunter-day for club dues or for rent of blind; this expense would, of course, not apply to public -shooting-groxmds hunters. Boat rental or depreciation was estimated to be $1.00 per day of use. Other expenses are of a capital investmient type. The average shotgvm used by the 77 hunters questioned cost $95. Shotguns were depreciated at the rate of 3 per cent a year in a study by Gordon (1941), We used Ij per cent in our calculations, assuming that a duck hunter divides use of his shotgtin equally between waterfowl and upland game. Our calculated deprecia- tion on shotg\ui amounted to $1,42 a season or $0,29 a hunting day. Investment in hunting clothes 10 and boats averaged $46.20 per hunter. When this equipment was depreciated over a 5-year period, the cost was calculated to be $9.24 a year, or $1.85 per hunting day. Investment in de- coys was $33.00 a hvtnter, which, with an allowance for painting and depreciation, would amount to $6.60 per year or $1.32 per hunting day. The cost items totaled $13.36 per day for the 41 public-shooting-grounds hunters in- terviewed, or, on the basis of 1.34 ducks killed and bagged per day, $9.97 per duck. The average bag per day by these hunters is very close to the 1.45 ducks per hunter-day at Illinois public shooting grounds in 1940-1942, as reported in a previous study (Bellrose 1944). Although cost items were higher per day of duck hunting for members of private shooting clubs and for daily-fee shooters, their cost per duck, $9.67, was slightly lower be- cause of their greater success. A questionnaire sent out to shooting-club hunters in 1939 and answered by 127 of them disclosed that the minimum average expenditure per duck killed and bagged was $4.77 for that season. An approximate mid-point in the cost per duck between 1939 and 1947 has been -es- tablished as $7.25. This figure has been used in the present study in calculating the value of duck-h\anting land. When the average bag per acre at. public shooting grounds, table 1, is 1,68 ducks and the average cost of bagging a duck is $7.25, the economic value to the public of a bottomland lake or marsh for public hunting is calculated to be $12.18 per acre-year. When the average bag per acre at private shooting clubs is 1.48 ducks, and the average cost of bagging a duck is $7.25, the value of bottomland for such clubs is $10.73 per acre-year. ANGLING VALUES TO PUBLIC Angling is a recreation for which 574,784 Illinois residents bought licenses in 1947. Sport fishing is especially popular on 1 1 Illinois River valley lakes that comprise 25,000 acres of the 75,000 acres of water in the valley. The greater popularity of certain lakes for angling is related to fishing success there and to their accessibility to fishermen. Factors contributing to fishing success are transparency and depth of water, amount of shore line per acre of water, and composition of the fish population. Sonne lakes are difficult of access because of private owner- ship or poor roads. Sport fishing data for Illinois River valley lakes were gathered largely from Lake I Chautauqua, a former agricultural levee district and now a national wildlife refuge. Although 11 this lake is one of the more popular fishing areas, seven other lakes are known to be more in- tensively used and are reputedly better fishing lakes. Angling data from Lake Chautauqua may, therefore, be regarded as representative of those in the Illinois River valley. Because catches Table 3. — Number of pounds of fish taken by anglers, pounds of fish caught per acre, and recreational value of the catch from 3,200 acres of water in Chautauqua National Wildlife Refuge, 1941-1943 and 1945-1947.* Kind of Fish Pounds Per Acre Yearly Aver- age, Pounds Per Acre Recreational Values 1941 1942 1943 1945 1946 1947 Per Pound Per Acre Bass Others 0.69 2.83 0.48 2.61 0.17 1.85 0.23 1.74 0.37 1.04 0.11 2.37 0.34 2.07 $2.50 0.75 $0.85 1.55 Total ,. 3.52 3.09 2.02 1.97 1.41 2.48 2.41 $2.40 *The figures do not represent the full extent of the anglers' catch, as the fish caught from private boats are unrecorded; only the fish caught by anglers renting equipment from boat liveries are recorded. are recorded only by boat livery operators, those made from private boats are unrecorded; thus, the figures in table 3 do not represent the full extent of the anglers' catch. The public recreational value assigned per poijnd of largemouth bass was $2.50 and for other fish, most of them pan varieties, $0.75 per pound. These figures are based upon the Table 4. --Number of man-days of fishing, pounds of fish caught per acre, and recrea- tional value of the catch at 3,500-acre Spring Lake, near Savanna, 1946-1947. Year Number of Man-Days Pounds Per Acre Recreational Value Per Pound Per Acre 1946 1947 28,000 38,000 61.3 57.8 $0.33 0.50 $20.23 28.90 Average.. 33.000 59.5 $0,415 $24.56 amount of money fishermien spent per day in making their catch, and were derived in a manner similar to the method used in determining the value of waterfowl. Although the fish-value fig- ures were established by Dr. George W. Bennett and other aquatic biologists of the Illinois Natirral History Survey several years before the Manual of Instructions, River Basin Studies, was issued by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, it is interesting to note the close approach to the designated values of $2.00 per pound for bass and $0.75 per poxmd for pan fish now being used by the federal agency in river basin analyses. 12 Over a period of years, table 3, Lake Chautauqua had an annual angling value to the public of $2.40 per acre of water. Spring Lake, an abandoned agricviltural levee district along the Mississippi River near Savanna, Illinois, has provided exceptionally good fishing for bullheads. Although not a favorite sport fish, bullheads are sought by cane-pole fishermen who use worms for bait. The nvunber of fish, almost all black bxillheads, taken at Spring Lake in 1946 and 1947 is available through the efforts of the Brown Brothers Boat Livery; Clair T. Rollings, refuge manager in 1946; and Harry L. Adams, refuge manager in 1947. In 1946, the average daily catch was 23 bullheads per fisherman; in 1947, it was 16. On Jxily 4, 1946, 2,500 fishermen were on the lake and, on May 30, 2,000. Nearly 7,000 fished during the 2 weeks of most intensive participation. The weekly average for the 28-week season in 1946 was 1,000-fisherman days. The total fisherman- days in 1947, as calculated by Harry L. Adantis, was 38,000. Rollings interviewed about 5 per cent of the fishernnen in 1946 and found that the aver- age daily individual expenditure for transportation, boat rental, bait, and other incidentals was $2.50. The cane-pole type of fishing is attractive to the majority of people, who do not travel so far or spend so much in reacning their fishing grounds as the bait-casting fishermen; 64 per cent of the Spring Lake fishermen traveled less than 25 miles. Other expenditures of the cane-pole fishermen are also less than those of the fishermen out after bass, crappies, or bluegills. The type of fishing at Spring Lake combined with the exceptionally high catch to give a public recrea- tion value, table 4, not inuch above the actual meat value of the fish. 13 Fig. 5. --Commercial fishing is big business on many Illinois bottom- land lakes bordering the Illinois and Mississippi rivers. The yield for several lakes in the Illinois River valley was calcvilated to average 141 pounds per acre. 14 Fig. 6.--Hoopnets or fykes are widely used as tackle by commercial fishermen in Illinois. COMMERCIAL FISHERIES VALUE Commercial fish -- carp, buffalo, catfish, bullheads, and sheepshead -- are a re- sourcejfigs. 5 and 6, of bottomland lakes almost as valuable in the public economy as are water- fowl. Studies made by aquatic biologists of the Illinois Natural History Survey indicate that bottomland lakes in the Illinois and Mississippi river valleys are capable of producing 200 to 300 pounds of fish per acre each year. The harvest has, however, seldom equaled this amount, table 5, for regulations limit- ing the size and season, and prohibiting the taking of crappies, have been more restrictive than is believed necessary by son\e fisheries experts. It is to be anticipated that, with public ac- ceptance of a need for more liberal fishing laws, regulations will be altered to permit a greater harvest of this resource. L Table 5.--Nvimber of pounds of rough fish seined by commercial fishermen Irom Illinois River valley lakes, 1943-1947. Area 1 Acres Year Pounds of Fish Pounds Per Acre Lake Senachwine Big Lake Big Lake Big Lake Anderson Lake Meredosia Bay Meredosia Bay Meredosia Bay Meredosia Bay Meredosia Bay 4,000 950 950 950 860 1,300 1.300 1,300 1,300 1.300 1945 1945 1946 1947 1947 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 800.000 161.000 151.000 132,000 62,000 144,416 212,524 122,500 133,163 84,715 200 169 159 139 72 HI 164 94 102 65 Total Average 14.210 2,003,518 141 In our tabulations, we based the economic value of commercial fish on the actual povmdage taken fronn those lakes for which records were available. Table 5 shows that an aver- age catch of 141 pounds per acre-year was seined from the waters of four typical Illinois River bottomland lakes. This amounted to an average of $9.65 per acre each year at prices prevail- ing, 1943-1947, table 6. No seining of fish has been permitted at the Chautauqua National Wildlife Refuge, but commercial fishermen were permitted to take rough fish in hoopnets on about 60 per cent of the Table 6. — Connmercial fisheries value of an acre of water in Illinois River valley lakes; figures based upon annual catch of 141 pounds per acre, 1943-1947. Species Per Cent of Catch 1 Pounds Per Acre Wholesale Price Per Pound Undressed Wholesale Value Per Acre Carp 61.1 22.9 10.2 5.8 86.1 32.3 14.4 8.2 $0.04 0,10 0.15 0.10 $3.44 3 23 Buffalo Catfish and bullhead 2 16 Sheepshead 82 Total 100.0 141.0 $9.65 16 Table 7. --Number of pounds and value of various rough fish taken by commercial fisher- men from hoopnets, Chautauqua National Wildlife Refuge, 1945-1947. * Povinds Per Acre Species 1945 1946 1947 Average Value Per Acre Carp Bioffalo Sheepshead Catfish Biillhead 8.24 14.44 0.09 0.13 5.99 3.90 0.15 0.12 0.05 2.88 3.72 0.09 0.14 5.70 7.35 0.08 0.12 0.06 $0.23 0.73 0.01 0.02 0.01 13.31 $1.00 * Conrimercial fishing permitted on only 60 per cent of refuge, but acreage figures prorated on basis of entire 3,200 acres of water. lake. However, their reported catches, table 7, are prorated over the 3,200 acres of water in the lake. The value of the fish taken amounted to $1.00 per acre-year. OTHER FISHERY VALUE Commercial fishing was not permitted at the Spring Lake refuge, but both Lake Chau- tauqua and Spring Lake were used by the Illinois Departnnent of Conservation for obtaining fish Table 8. --Number of various species of fish Department of Conservation, and their value for r taken from Chautauqua and Spring lakes by the estocking purposes. I Fish P er Acre Value Per Fish Value Per Acre Place Kinds 1945 1946 1947 Average Lake Chautauqua Largemouth bass 0.10 0.26 0.25 0.20 $0.75 $0.15 Cr appie s 4.32 1.00 2.61 1.12 1.64 1.23 2.86 1.12 0.20 0.30 0.57 Bluegill 0.34 h Other sunfish -- 0.18 0.06 0.08 0.10 0.01 1 Yellow perch — 0.15 — 0.05 0.10 0.00 \ White and yellow bass -- 0.15 1.02 0.39 0.10 0.04 Catfish 0.05 0.03 0.06 0.05 0.20 0.01 1 Bullheads 0.22 0.19 0.23 0.21 0.15 0.03 1 Others 0.12 0.20 0.57 0.29 0.10 0.03 Total 5.81 4.99 5.06 5.25 -- $1.18 Spring Lake Black bullheads -- 100.00 29.03 64.51 0.15 $9.68 1' r for stocking new artificial lakes and farm ponds. These lakes proved superior to fish hatcheries as sources of fish because they supplied hardier fish of breeding age at less cost. The number of the various species of fish taken per acre from Lake Chautauqua sind Spring Ijake by the Department of Conservation is given in table 8. Assigned values of fish for stocking purposes are based, in the case of bass, upon their sale price by private sources and, in the case of other fishes, upon their food value. The value of the stocking fish taken* from Lake Chautauqua is only slightly above the cost of procurement to the Department of Conservation. The value of Lake Chautauqua to the state for obtaiiiing stocking fish was calcvilated to be $1.18 per acre of water per year; of Spring Lake, $9.68 per acre-year. n^^^mf} ■2j,^m'^ ^^\^ 5vV^ Fig. 7. — Many marshes in Illinois return considerable revenue from tlie trapping of muskrats. The muskrat houses shown here are in a marsh smartweed bed. Rice Lake, near Banner. FUR YIELD The value of riverbottom lakes for nnuskrats, the principal furbearers, is regulated by the stability of water levels and the abundance of river bulrush (Scirpus fluviatilis) , marsh smart- weed (Polygonum nmhlenbergi) , fig. 7, and, to a mUch leSSer extent, American lotus (Nelumbiam pentapetalim) (Bellrose & Brown 1941). River bulrush and nnarsh smartweed occur on about 15 per cent of the water areas of the Illinois River valley and American lotus on an additional 10 per cent. 18 Enumeration of muskrat dwelling houses in the bottomland lakes of the Illinois River valley during the 1939-1940 and 1940-1941 trapping season, table 9, revealed averages of 0.34 and 0.35 house per acre of water area. Table 10 shows that at Rice and Chautauqua lakes the average number of muskrats trapped per house was 2.27. This number is comparable to the 2.9 and 2.6 nnuskrats trapped per house at the Sand Lake National Wildlife Refuge in South Dakota (Aldous 1947), but is much higher than the 0.67 to 1.10 trapped per house at the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge in Maryland (Dozier et al. 1948). Table 9. --Number of muskrat houses per acre on various areas in Illinois River valley during 1939-1940 and 1940-1941 trapping seasons. Area Acres in Lake Basin Houses Per Acre 1939-40 1940-41 Goose Pond Siebolt' s Lake Douglas Lake Rice Lake Big Lake Goose Lake Lake Chautauqua Jake Lake Ingram Lake Cuba Island 1,500 420 1,800 1,034 950 726 3,200 1,174 863 1,072 0.15 0.05 0.22 0.92 0.35 0.08 0.26 0.32 0.94 0.65 0.28 0.11 0.20 0.10 Average 0.34 0.35 Table 10. --Number of muskrats trappea per liouse at Rice Lake and Lake Chautauqua, 1939-1941. Lake Season Houses Muskrats Muskrats Per House Rice Rice 1939-40 1940-41 1940-41 954 675 634 1,497 1.532 2,111 1.57 2.27 Chautauqua 3.33 Average 754 1,713 2.27 19 The number of muskrat houses per acre multiplied by the number trapped per house indicates a potential harvest of 0.78 muskrat per acre of water in Illinois River valley bottom- land lakes. At 1944-1947 prices, which averaged $2.72 per pelt, the income from muskrats averaged $2.12 per acre. Minks and raccoons yielded an additional but relatively low return per acre. TOTAL VALUES TO PUBLIC Values for public hunting and fishing, for commercial fishing, and for fur trapping of a typical bottomland lake in the Illinois River valley are recapitiilated in table 11. As de- termined from available sources, the value of an acre of bottomland lake at 1944-1947 prices is about $26 per year. Table 11. — Per acre value to public of an average Illinois River bottonnland lake; value based upon commercial fishing and fur trapping returns and expenditures by the public for duck hunting and angling, 1944-1947. Source Value Per Acre Duck hunting Angling Commer cial fishing Fur trapping $12.18 2.40 9.65 2.12 Total $26.35- Spring Lake, near Savanna, is not typical of Illinois bottomland lakes in that it is a national wildlife refuge partly open to hunting, is not subjectto overflow, and is north of converg- ing waterfowl flyway routes. Consequently, its fish are its major resource; they had a yearly acre-value to the public of $34.24, 1946-1947, table 12. With duck hunting included, the total value of Spring Lake to the public in those years was $39.54 per acre. Table 12. --Per acre value to public of Spring Lake, Savanna, Illi- nois; value based upon state fish restocking supply and expenditures by the public for duck nunting and angling. Source Value Per Acre Duck hunting Angling Fish re stocking $ 5.30 24.56 9.68 Total $39.54 20 RETURNS TO PRIVATE OWNERS We have discussed fish and wildlife values to the public of riverbottom lakes in the Illinois and Mississippi river valleys of Illinois. What income would fish and wildlife bring to a private owner of these lands? Most of the natural bottomlands of the Illinois River are owned by duck shooting clubs, or by individuals who lease their lands for waterfowl hunting; most of those along the Mississippi River are owned by the federal government after having been acquired in conjunction with the canalization of that river. Leveed agricultural lands in both river valleys are privately owned. Table 13. --Income from rental or lease of duck-hunting rights on bottomland lakes in the Illinois River valley, 1937-1947. Place Acres Average Yearly Amount Amount Per Acre Period Covered Rice Lake 1,034 $2,114 $2.13 1937-1942 Quiver Lake 100 1,215 12.15 1944 Quiver Creek 5 1,030 206.00 1943-1945 Moscow Bay 200 1,800 9.00 1947 Miserable Lake 200 1,100 5.50 1943-1944 Lake Senachwine 80 2,000 25.00 1943-1944 Goose Pond 800 4,000 5.00 1946-1947 Total 2,419 $13,259 $ 5.48 Average Table 13, shows the income landowners have received from the rental or lease of waterfowl hunting rights on various Illinois River valley areas. The average annual revenue was $5.48 per acre. Some owners of bottomland waters do and some do not obtain revenue from the com- mercial fish taken from their property. Many duck club officials consider the fishing rights in the salary compensation of their caretakers and other personnel. Some charge a flat fee of several dollars per acre for commercial fishing rights. Other lake owners receive cash for half of the catch. The owner who conducted his own fishing operations grossed about $9.65 per acre annually, table 6, in the period 1943-1947. Lake property owners along the Illinois and Mississippi rivers realize considerable income from the rental of boats to anglers, as indicated by table 14. Income listed in this table is derived from renting boats at the rate of $1,00 per day at Rice Lake and Lake Chautauqua in the Illinois River valley and at Spring Lake in the Mississippi River valley. The lack of income 21 in 1941 at Rice Lake was occasioned by low water. No records are available for Lake Chau- tauqua in 1944, or for Spring Lake before 1946. We have an additional record from a boat livery on 900-acre Beebe Lake, adjacent to Rice Lake, which shows an income of $3.32 per acre in 1944. Table 14. --Income per acre from rental of boats to anglers on three bottomland lakes in Illinois, 1941-1947. Lake Acres Income Per Acre Average 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 Chautauqua 3,200 $1.39 0.82 0.57 ? 0.60 0.37 0.50 $0.77 Rice 1,034 1,167 0.00 0.31 1.20 0.80 1.65 2.22 3.86 $1.43 Spring 3,500 ? ? ? ? ? 3.86 4.00 $3.93 These records of boat rentals reveal that owners of boat liveries may gross from $0.77 to almost $4.00 per acre finnually; the amount is dependent on fishing success, accessi- bility to good roads', and size of the body of water. The average amovuit derived from connbining all years and places for which figures were available was $1.32. Rental of cabins to anglers \<^ould provide a large source of income, but this facility is developed in the Illinois River valley only at Lake Senachwine near Putnam, Matanzas Lauke near Havana, and Snicarte Slough near Bath. However, numerous private cabins or cottages have been built along the shores of seven Illinois River valley lakes and along the Mississippi River. Many landowners, including the United States Fish and Wildlife Service and the Illinois Department of Conservation, receive half of the fur trapped on their property. The gross fur re- turns from bottomland lakes and marshes in Illinois bordering the Illinois and Mississippi amounted to about $2.12 per acre, 1944-1947. Table 15. --Gross income per year that private owners of bottomland water areas in Illinois can expect to receive from fish and wildlife re- sources at I944-I947 prices. Source Value Per Acre Duck hunting Commercial fish Boat rentals to anglers Fur pelts $ 5.48 9.65 1.32 2.12 Total $18.57 22 I Table 15 recapitulates the calculated annual gross income of $18.57 per acre that owners of Illinois bottomland water areas can expect to receive from fish and wildlife resources at 1944- 1947 prices. Further development in management of the bottomland water areas would undoubtedly increase the returns. SUMMARY 1. Extensive areas of the Illinois and Mississippi river bottomlands have b6en drained and leveed, destroying fish and aquatic wildlife habitat and increasing flood heights. 2. Many groups of people in Illinois are questioning the wisdom of spending public funds to build, maintain, and improve levees to perpetuate an uncertain agricultural economy in areas in which restored bottomland would furnish significant revenue from fish and wildlife resources and woxild reduce flood heights. 3. The econonnic value of the fish and wildlife resources of bottomland lakes in Illi- nois was determined on the basis of the harvest of fish, fur, and ducks irom various lakes, es- pecially Spring Lake, near Savanna, and Lake Chautauqua, near Havana. These are national wildlife refuges that were formerly drainage and levee districts. 4. Public fish and wildlife values were appraised by determining amounts involved in the direct sale of commercial species and in the cost of hunting and fishing for the game species. Private values were calculated by determining the amounts involved in the lease of hunting rights, the rental of boats, cabins, and the like, and the income from commercial fish or fur taken, 5. Bottomland lakes in the Illinois River valley were calculated to have an annual per- acre value to the public, 1944-1947, of $26.35, made up as follows: duck hunting $12.18; angling $2.40; commercial fishing $9.65; and fur trapping $2.12. 6. Spring Lake, an abandoned levee district along the Mississippi River near Savanna, Illinois, was calculated to have an annual per-acre value to the public, 1946-1947, of $39.54, nnade up as follows: duck hunting $5.30; angling $24.56; and fish for restocking $9.68. 7. Privately owned lakes in the Illinois River valley were estimated to be capable of producing an average yearly gross return to owners, 1944-1947, of $18.57 per acre. Under im- proved nnanagement of the habitat and the harvest, these areas could produce a higher income. 23 LITERATURE CITED Aldous, Shaler E. 1947. Muskrat trapping on Sand Lake National Wildlife Refuge, South Dakota. Jour. Wildlife Mgt. 11:77-90. Arthur, George C. 1948. Illinois upper Mississippi wildlife survey. Pittman-Robertson Quarterly 8(2):175. Bellrose, Frank C., Jr. 1944. Waterfowl hunting in Illinois: its status and problems. 111. Nat. Hist. Surv. Biol. Notes 17. 35 pp. Bellrose, Frank C. , Jr. 1945. Relative values of drained and undrained bottomland in Illinois. Jour, Wildlife Mgt. 9:161-82. Bellrose, Frank C., Jr. 1947. Analysis of methods used in determining game skill. Jour. Wildlife Mgt. 11:105-19. Bellrose, Frank C., and Louis G. Brown 1941, The effect of fluctuating water levels on the muskrat population of the Illinois River valley. Jour. Wildlife Mgt. 5:206-12. Dozier, Herbert L., Merle H. Markley, and Leonard M. Llewellyn 1948. Muskrat investigations on Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge, Maryland, 1941-1945. Jour. Wildlife Mgt. 12:177-90. Gordon, Seth, Jr. 1941. A sampling technique for the determination of hunter activities and the eco- nomics thereof. Jour. Wildlife Mgt. 5:260-78. Hewitt, Oliver H. 1942. Management of an artificial marsh in southern Ontario for ducks and mis - krats. N. Am. Wildlife Conf. Trans. 7:277-82. Lueth, Francis X. 1946. Rice Lake wildlife research. Pittman-Robertson Quarterly 6(l):3-4. Penfound, William T., and John D. Schneidau 1945. The relation of land reclamation to aquatic wildlife resources in southeastern Louisiana. N. Am. Wildlife Conf. Trans. 10:308-18. 24