SETTLERS WHO CROSSED the Mississippi River into what is now northern Iowa were confronted by an almost endless sea of prairie intermixed with myriad lakes and marshes. This great expanse of wetlands must have been an awesome sight to our pioneers. Along with this seemingly endless sea of marshes waves of ducks, geese, and shore birds, and prairie chickens, buffalo, and other wildlife greeted the newcomers. Cries of flushed wildfowl, surprised on a prairie marsh, would nearly deafen an intruder.

This was our heritage -- a vastness of wetlands with a bounty of wildfowl that man apparently could never exhaust.

This wonderland of water, heavily laden with nature's riches, was the footprint of the Wisconsin Glacier. This glacier left behind 7.6 million acres of mixed prairie and marshland, extending from what are now Polk and Dallas counties northward to the Iowa-Minnesota border, eastward to Worth, Cerro Gordo and Franklin counties, and westward to Osceola, O'Brien, and Cherokee counties. It leveled the land and gouged out holes and basins that were filled with water when this great ice mass retreated. Some basins were large and fairly shallow, such as Spirit Lake and Clear Lake, while West Okoboji was deep. Many more wetlands ranged in size and depth from shallow lakes down to small, seasonally flooded potholes of an acre or less. In parts of northwest Iowa, our ancestors would count up to 200 of these potholes in a square mile.

THIS MOSAIC of prairie and wetlands acted as a huge sponge, soaking up runoff from winter snows or heavy rains. In turn, these drained into a series of creeks and rivers that carried the excess water eastward to the Mississippi River, but allowed some to escape westward to the Missouri River.

Major rivers flowing eastward now bear the names Des Moines, Raccoon, Skunk, English, Iowa, Cedar, Wapsipinicon, Maquoketa, Volga, Turkey, Yellow, and Upper Iowa. Looking west, we find the Nodaway, Nishnabotna, Boyer, Soldier, Maple, Little Sioux, Big Sioux, Floyd, Ocheyedan, and Rock. Much of our history is captured in these names that may always be there to remind us of our past.

Nature's forces -- often quite violent -- left their signatures for us to ponder. Heavy spring rains resulted in floodwaters with tremendous power that altered river courses, leaving old riverbeds or scoured-out wet areas along the river channels. Extensive wetlands were created along the Mississippi and Missouri as well as other inland rivers.

Marshes, lakes, and rivers, Iowa's common wetland types, have influenced the state's development and even our present-day lives. Though most travel by early settlers was by wagon and horseback, river courses were important for transportation of goods and supplies as settlements developed. Some of the oldest towns in Iowa -- Dubuque, for example -- were established along the Mississippi River. Other towns and cities that grew up along major inland rivers were Fort Dodge, Ottumwa, Iowa City, Cedar Rapids, Waterloo, Iowa Falls, Mason City, and our capital city on the banks of the Des Moines and Raccoon rivers.

Rivers served not only as a source of transportation, but also provided the essentials for man's existence. Water to drink was one of the main requirements. Wood for fuel and lumber for housing came from wooded lands along rivers, where low, wet areas protected trees from raging prairie fires that continually nipped the expansion of young timber seedlings. Plentiful wildlife such as turkey, deer, squirrels, ducks, geese, and fish served as food. Beavers, muskrats, and mink provided valuable fur that could be traded to European markets. All of these essentials to life were offered along the water courses and associated wetlands.

Not unlike the rivers, our large natural lakes provided the same provisions for survival. Water, abundant wildlife and fish, and sheer beauty attracted settlements like Clear Lake, Spirit Lake, and Storm Lake. These cities are very proud and protective of the waters at their back doors, and numbers of summer visitors verify the lure of these lakes.

Pioneers gradually settled the vast prairie-pothole region of northcentral and northwest Iowa, where they plowed the prairie to raise food crops and exploited the almost endless wildfowl populations. However, they left virtually undisturbed the extensive wetlands. At that time, wetlands were not viewed as valuable potential agricultural lands, but more as a hindrance to farming and travel and as spawning grounds for the hated mosquito. It wasn't until after the Federal Swampland Acts of 1850 and 1860 that extensive areas were drained.

A series of events that occurred before the turn of the century has had an effect on the wildlife we may see on our wetlands today. Giant Canada geese once nested in the marshlands throughout northern Iowa, but settlers robbed their nests for eggs, captured the young, and shot the adults. Such exploitation, along with drainage of their nesting areas, caused the giant Canada goose to become extinct in the wild in the early 1900s. In the early 1960s biologist Harold Hanson of the Illinois Natural History Survey documented the existence of these large Canada geese. Additional research showed that a few farmers had private goose flocks that matched the descriptions of the giant goose. Tracing the lineage of these birds revealed their ancestry. They were descendants of wild birds that once nested in Iowa. Young geese captured in the wild were penned and domesticated for egg and meat production. Offspring of these geese were kept to replenish flocks, and some flocks were kept by the same families for more than 60 years. The Iowa Conservation Commission bought some of these genetically pure birds and returned them to the wild. Today, more than 3, 000 giant honkers return to our marshlands each spring to mate and rear their young. Their story reminds us of man's influence on his environment and the bounty offered by our wetlands.

WETLANDS are low areas where water stands or flows continuously or periodically. They are often referred to as swamps, sloughs, marshes, potholes, lakes, bogs, wet meadows, and seeps. Usually wetlands contain plant-life characteristic of such areas. While most definitions of wetlands refer only to the shallow water areas with vegetation, we have broadened ours to include natural lakes, rivers, river oxbows, overflow areas, and manmade areas such as reservoirs, lakes, and farm ponds.

Water-saturated soils in these low areas are normally without oxygen and are described as anaerobic. Because plant roots require oxygen for respiration and this oxygen is normally obtained from air spaces in the soil, most plants can live in water-saturated soils only for very brief periods. Anaerobic soils and the presence of one or more members of a small group of plants able to tolerate and grow in such soils are universal features of all wetlands. Wetland plants have various anatomical, morphological, and physiological adaptions that enable them to live either partly or completely submerged. The most important and widespread of these adaptions is a system of interconnected air spaces in the leaves, stems, and roots that allows oxygen to diffuse to the roots from the leaves, thus making it possible for the roots to live in anaerobic soils.

Wetlands also are home to many different groups of animals that are able to find food and shelter in them. These animals also show a variety of adaptions for life in the wetland environment. Animals found in Iowa wetlands include muskrats, mink, ducks, geese, shore birds, songbirds, turtles, fish, salamanders, and many different invertebrate groups.

The key feature used to classify all wetlands is their water regime or hydrology. (Where does their water come from? Where does it go? How constant is the water level?) Four basic types of wetlands are found in Iowa: palustrine, lacustrine, riverine, and seepage. The only type of wetland not found in Iowa is a tidal wetland.

Palustrine wetlands occupy shallow basins with small watersheds. They have marked fluctuations in water level: seasonal fluctuations, reflecting rainfall patterns and annual fluctuations, reflecting longterm drought cycles. In periods of drought, annual fluctuations can be so extreme that the wetlands may be free of standing water for one or more years. Most palustrine wetlands, once common in the northern half of Iowa on the recently glaciated areas, have now been drained, but some can still be found in northwest Iowa. Palustrine wetlands are often called prairie potholes or prairie glacial marshes.

Lacustrine wetlands are found in shallow, protected areas of lakes. They are generally less subject to water-level fluctuations than palustrine or riverine wetlands. Although Iowa has few large lakes, good examples of this wetland type may be found along the shores of Spirit Lake, Clear Lake, and many smaller Iowa lakes. Wave action that can uproot plants restricts lacustrine wetlands to sheltered areas of large lakes.

Riverine wetlands, which are associated with rivers, are not common in Iowa, except for those found in the backwaters of the Mississippi and in clear-water trout streams of northeastern Iowa. Most Iowa rivers today are too turbid to support the growth of aquatic plants, and they are either shaded out or buried under the settling load of suspended material. Plants that occasionally do become established are often scoured out by floods. In the few rivers where plants can take hold, their growth is often luxurious. The flowing water constantly supplies them with new sources of nutrients.

Seepage wetlands form in areas where groundwater surfaces, but where water volume is too small to create a stream or creek. These wetlands have a perpetually saturated soil, but may have little or no standing water. Since their water source is an aquifer, it often has a very different chemical composition from that of water in neighboring wetlands which have a surface-water source. Iowa's best-known seepage wetlands are the fens of northwest Iowa, e.g., Silver Lake Fen. These fens are found in small areas where the ground is saturated by alkaline water discharging from an aquifer that flows through calcareous limestone and dolomite deposits. The soil in these fens is a mixture of precipitated carbonates and organic matter, and it supports the growth of many wetland species including a number restricted to this wetland type in the state: arrow grass, beaked sedge, and grass of parnassus. Another type of seepage found in eastern Iowa is the hanging bog, about which very little is known.

WETLANDS are usually composed of one or more plant communities, which are characterized by the growth form of their dominant species. In Iowa, five communities commonly are found: wet meadow, emergent, floating-leaved, free-floating, and submersed. These communities commonly overlap and may also interlock. The distribution of these communities in most wetlands is largely controlled by water depth, with the exception of the free-floating community. The normal pattern in lacustrine and palustrine wetlands, moving from shore to deeper water, is wet meadow, emergent, floating-leaved, and submersed. Free-floating plants may be found anywhere, but most typically they are found as an understory in the emergent community.

Wet meadow communities are found where the soil is normally saturated and is covered with standing water only in spring. Sedges or grasses like blue joint or manna grass are the dominant species. Usually a sprinkling of mints, polygonums, and other annuals are also found.

In emergent communities cattails, bulrushes, burreeds, arrowheads, and common reed are the dominant species of plants. These tall, upright plants, which can reach a height of several feet, normally grow in standing water less than three feet deep, but they can tolerate one or more years without standing water, although their growth is much reduced in such dry periods.

In most Iowa floating-leaved communities pondweeds dominate, but in others scattered across the state, waterlilies are the dominant species. Only three species of water lily are found in Iowa: the white, the yellow, and the American lotus, which exists primarily in the Mississippi River Valley, although it has been transplanted elsewhere, e.g., Lilly Lake in the Amana Colonies.

Only a few, small -- usually less than a half inch -- free-floating plants are found in Iowa, and they belong to the group of aquatic plants called duckweeds. Among these free-floating plants in Iowa is a species of Wollfia, the smallest flowering plant in the world. Although most free-floating plants float on the surface of the water, a few actually float below the surface. Free-floating plants may grow luxuriantly in many Iowa farm ponds, and often their growth shades out other submersed plants there.

In Iowa's submersed communities, pondweeds, bushy pondweeds, coontails, water milfoils, and bladderworts are common. These plants can grow in water only a few inches deep to water several feet deep, and they are often found growing as an understory in emergent and floating-leaved communities. Members of this community are important as food for certain waterfowl.

Most Iowa wetlands are mosaics of the five communities, and the same species often, though not always, may be found in lacustrine, palustrine, or riverine wetlands. Seepage wetlands, on the other hand, are usually a mixture of wet meadow and emergent communities with a rudimentary submersed community present occasionally.

One minor wetland-community type has not been mentioned -- peat land. Peat lands have organic soil composed of decomposing plant parts. Although they are quite common farther north in Minnesota and Wisconsin, only a few exist in Iowa; Deadman's Lake Bog in Pilot Knob State Park is the best example. On this floating mat of decaying vegetation is found a host of plants characteristic of peat lands across North America, including pitcher plants, sundews, sphagnum moss, and several heaths.

Wetland communities --characteristic vegetation

* Wet meadow -- sedges and grasses

* Emergent -- cattails, bulrushes, common reeds

* Floating-leaved -- water lilies

* Free-floating -- duckweeds, Wollfia

* Submersed -- pondweeds, coontails, bladderworts

Wetland Types

* Palustrine - shallow basins

Seasonally flooded basin -- Type I

Fresh meadows -- Type II, waterlogged soil

Shallow fresh meadows -- Type III, 6 inches deep in water

Deep fresh marshes -- Type IV, 6 inches to 3 feet deep

Open fresh water -- Type V, usually under 10 feet deep

Shrub swamps -- river flood plains

* Lacustrine -- shallow, protected lake areas

* Riverine -- associated with rivers

* Seepage --groundwater sufaces

PALUSTRINE WETLANDS may be the ones most commonly envisioned in people's minds when they hear the word wetlands They are the beautiful prairie marshes, potholes, and shallow lakes. Past work has dealt mostly with their benefits to wildlife and, consequently, they have been classified according to these benefits along with the associated vegetation.

In 1956, Samuel P. Shaw and C. Gordon Fredine authored Wetlands of the United States, Their Extent and Their Value to Waterfowl and Other Wildlife, published by the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Department of the Interior as Circular 39. Shaw and Fredine's classifications placed Iowa's palustrine wetlands into six types.

Type 1 includes seasonally-flooded basins. The land is periodically flooded in periods of heavy rain or runoff from snows. In these periods the soil is waterlogged, but usually is well enough drained so it can be farmed most years. These areas can be found in upland depressions or in overflow bottomlands. Vegetation varies due to the length of time it is inundated, and typical plants are smartweed, wild millet, fall panicum, sedges, beggars tick, ragweed, and barnyard grass. Type 1 areas are quite valuable to breeding water-fowl because they offer abundant food and provide numerous areas for breeding pairs to seclude themselves during the early nesting period. These wetlands are also used extensively by migrating waterfowl in both spring and fall.

Fresh meadows make up the Type 2 classification. The soil usually is without standing water in most of the growing season, but is waterlogged within a few inches of the surface. In spring and after heavy rains, Type 2 areas hold water and provide breeding space for waterfowl. In some years, nesting waterfowl use them.

Vegetation is characterized by prairie cordgrass, reed canary grass, reedgrass, manna grass, sedges, rushes, and mints. Sometimes Type 2 areas are cut for hay in mid-to-late summer when surface water is gone.

Soil in shallow fresh marshes, Type 3 wetlands, usually is waterlogged in the growing season, and often is covered by six inches or more of water. These wetlands usually hold water in the early spring nesting and brooding-rearing periods for waterfowl and often dry out in late summer. Vegetation includes grasses, bulrushes, spikerushes, cattails, arrowhead, giant burreed, smartweed, and sedges.

Type 4 is composed of deep fresh marshes. Basins are covered with from six inches to three feet or more of water in the growing season. Common vegetation includes cattails, bulrushes, reeds, spikerushes, and burreed. In more open areas with deeper water are pondweeds, watermilfoil, coontails, waterlilies, and duckweeds. Type 4 areas provide nesting waterfowl with a dependable water supply and in most years, guarantee ducks a safe place to rear their young. The emergent vegetation provides waterfowl with cover from predators.

Open fresh water, Type 5, includes shallow ponds and lakes. Water -- usually less than 10 feet deep -- is fringed by emergent vegetation. Generally, these wetlands are deeper and have more open water than Type 4 marshes. Vegetation includes bulrushes, cattails, and reeds around the shoreline, plus pondweeds, naiads, coontail, watermilfoil, and waterlilies.

Waterfowl use these areas for brood-rearing, especially in late summer, when shallow, less permanent wetlands dry up. Ducks, geese, and other migrating birds use Type 5 wetlands as rest areas during migration.

Type 6, shrub swamps, most commonly occur in river flood plains, where floods have scoured out low areas. Overflow areas in the growing season are covered with six inches or more of water. Vegetation includes willows, buttonbush, and maples. Many acres of overflow and shrub swamps exist along interior Iowa rivers. They are important for nesting wood ducks and, to a lesser extent, mallards and blue-winged teal.

IOWA WETLANDS, as mentioned, are subject to annual fluctuations in water depth caused by cyclical changes in annual rainfall. Palustrine wetlands undergo cyclical changes in the dominant plant communities in response to these water level fluctuations and associated changes in muskrat populations.

The cycle begins in the lake or open-water stage. Water levels are high at this stage, and the wetland is dominated by submersed plants. A narrow fringe of emergents may also ring the shore. This open-water condition remains fairly stable until a drought period begins. In Iowa, serious droughts occur in 20-year cycles. The last was in 1977 and 1978, and the one before that occurred in 1957 and 1958.

When a wetland goes dry, seeds of many emergents and of a host of annuals germinate. The seeds of the emergent plants, which lay dormant in the marsh soil while standing water was present, now germinate and new seedlings grow rapidly among the dense cover of annuals that usually dominate dry marsh. When the drought is broken and rains come, the basin refloods, and the annuals --unable to tolerate flooding -- die out. Emergents remain as the dominant plants.

The once open lake-like marsh now has turned into a sea of green plants. Dense stands of cattails, bulrushes, and other emergents hide the water. Little wildlife is present at this stage.

Muskrats move into the dense marsh, which provides plentiful food and house-building material. As muskrat populations increase, marshes open up, providing a mixture of open water and Vegetation. A 50-50 open-water-to-vegetation ratio is the most desired marsh stage for the widest variety of wildlife. Dramatic shifts in plant communities are accompanied by similar shifts in animal populations. The more diverse the plant communities, the more attractive the area is to wildlife. A densely-vegetated marsh has the fewest species. Many species of birds -- including red-winged blackbirds, bobolinks, meadowlarks, and other more upland-dwelling birds -- are present in the upland grasses and along the edge of the marsh, regardless of vegetation density. Marsh wrens, bitterns, and rails tolerate more dense marsh vegetation.

As muskrats and high water open up the marsh, the variety of wildlife grows. The long-billed marsh wren, yellow-headed blackbird, Virginia rails and sora increase, and new faces appear on the scene -- black terns, American coots, pied-billed grebe, mallards, blue-winged teal, redheads, ruddy ducks, wood ducks, least bitterns, mink, and raccoon. Muskrats multiply rapidly under optimum conditions; within two to five years, a muskrat population explosion occurs. In late summer and early fall, house-building can deplete most of the emergent vegetation. When open water exceeds 70 percent of the wetland, the number of species decreases and a drastic reduction occurs in the number of animals of a particular species, too.

It is the diversity of plant communities and structure that provide the variety of homesites for most birds -- tall plants like phragmites or cattails, shorter bulrushes and burreed, down in height to arrowhead. Along with muskrats, high water and wind action will uproot mats of cattail and bulrush and wash them to the shoreline where they either die or reroot. The cycle continues until the marsh returns to the open-water stage, where it will remain until nature starts the process all over.

The time span for a cycle depends upon the type of marsh bottom, the water depth, and control of muskrat populations.

AFTER GLACIAL ACTION created our wetlands, a gradual change began. Shallow lakes became shallower still with the deposition of plant material and siltation from runoff. Shallow lakes changed to deep-water marshes, then to shallow-water marshes, then to wet meadows, and eventually to uplands. Over several thousand years this slow process gradually changed marshes to prairie. Nature's slow manner of change is seldom detected in a man's lifetime; however, man's changes have accelerated erosion and hastened the conversion of marshes to wet meadows.

Although the first human inhabitants of Iowa did little to alter its features, European immigrants pushed the frontier westward, determined to tame the wilderness. They built towns, plowed the prairie, drained lakes and marshes, and straightened rivers. Man's actions have overshadowed the geological changes that created and altered our wetlands over the past 10,000 years.

AN ESTIMATED six million acres of prairie and wetland existed in the early 1800s. It is difficult to determine the exact acreage of wetlands, but we believe that at least a third of the area would be classified as wetlands Writings indicate that in those days wetlands were held in low esteem and considered a menace to land development. In 1850 and 1860, Congress passed the Swampland Acts, which granted 1, 196,392 acres of public-domain wetland to Iowa for swamp reclamation. According to the accounts published in the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service's publication Wetlands of the United States, land was turned over to the counties, where it was bartered for things such as public buildings and bridges. Some counties even bargained with immigration companies, selling the land for 25 to 75 cents an acre, providing the company put settlers on it. In some cases, land was sold by county commissioners to themselves for nominal amounts; other counties gave wetlands to railroad companies.

The event which drastically changed our wetlands was the establishment of drainage districts by the Iowa Legislature which gave the county boards of supervisors jurisdiction and authority to establish drainage districts and levees to drain, straighten, widen, deepen, or change any natural water course whenever this action is of public utility or conducive to public health, convenience, or welfare. In this same act, it declared the drainage of surface waters from agricultural lands and all other lands shall be presumed to be a public benefit and conducive to its public health, convenience, and welfare.

Two or more owners of lands described in a petition for drainage may file to drain a wetland or alter a stream course, but it takes the owners of 70 percent or more of the land in that petition to block such action. Consequently, this law provides a convenient vehicle to drain all wetlands and describe it as conducive to public health and welfare. The establishment of drainage districts was the most influential action in altering our wetlands.

Wetland inventories conducted by the U. S. Department of Agriculture estimated 930,000 acres of wetlands in 1906 and 368,000 acres in 1922. In this period, farmers became aware of the richness of drained water basins for growing crops. Draining increased, and ditches were dug to drain large areas. The more acreage that was drained, the more impetus there was for accelerated drainage. And so it went -- pothole by pothole, marsh by marsh.

By 1940, most of our marshes, sloughs, and shallow lakes had been drained. Logan Bennett, who studied blue-winged teal in northwest Iowa, estimated that only 50,000 acres of prime marshland remained by 1938. His estimates however, did not include large sovereign lakes or other wetland types. A wetland inventory published in 1955 by Grady Mann showed 138,000 acres of water habitat. Mann's estimate includes wetlands along river systems and seasonally-flooded areas.

The most recent wetland survey conducted by wildlife biologists of the Iowa Conservation Commission identified 26,470 acres of natural marsh, all but 5,000 acres of which is publicly owned. In addition, 32,886 acres of sovereign lakes are owned by public agencies. Other wetlands include 10,000 acres of marsh created by artificial impounding for wildlife management and approximately 40,000 acres of river oxbows and overflow wetlands. Most of this latter acreage is privately owned and is endangered by clearing and landscaping done to create more cropland.

Tiling has aided the drying process. Areas that flooded temporarily in spring and after heavy rains were tiled, and this eliminated much of Iowa's water storage capacity -- our natural sponge. No longer would these temporary sloughs hold water for nesting ducks or retard runoff. Tile carried water as rapidly as possible to drainage ditches or creeks and on to rivers which flowed into the larger Mississippi and Missouri rivers.

Even though 95 percent of our wetlands have vanished, we still have about 110,000 acres of marshes, sloughs, lakes, and riverine wetlands -- and close to 60 percent of this acreage is publicly owned. How were these areas preserved in the face of an aggressive and demanding agricultural system? The two most important events were, first, the declaration in 1935 of 65 lakes and marshes as sovereign lands of the State of Iowa and, second, the passage of the Pittman-Robertson Act of 1937, a federal law that imposed an 11 percent excise tax on all sporting arms and ammunition. For every dollar of state funds, the federal government returns three dollars of these taxes to the state for wildlife management, research, and habitat restoration. With these additional funds, the Iowa Conservation Commission actively pursued the purchase of wetlands. It bought marshes in eminent danger of drainage; and in some cases it bought drained lakebeds and restored them.

An article on wetlands by Richard Bishop, which appeared in a symposium entitled Perspectives on Iowaís Declining Flora and Fauna, describes man's influence as follows: "Natural phenomena have changed river courses and left oxbows as signatures to the force of nature, but natural changes are dwarfed by the magnitude of changes caused by modern machines and technology. Channelization of the mighty Missouri River is the most dramatic example of channel straightening. This once wide, wandering river was converted to a fast-flowing narrow drainage ditch. Inland rivers once meandered across Iowa creating a great drainage system. The winding nature of these river courses provided valuable habitat for fish as well as a wide variety of birds and mammals. However, as other wetlands which acted as water storage bodies were drained into the river systems and water-impeding vegetation was removed from the landscape, the twisting rivers could not cope with the additional runoff and severe floding resulted. Stream straightening allowed water to escape faster and also provided additional farmland where river bends and bottomland hardwoods once existed. The 6,851 miles of inland streams is much less than half that which once existed when Iowa was first settled. Only 1,637 miles were designated as meandered streams in 1935. Much of the meandered portions of these rivers were altered prior to the 1935 designation that gave state ownership to these stream beds up to the highwater mark. Current vigilance protects these river portions from further degradation.'

Most channelization occurred in the early 1900s, but it has continued on unmeandered rivers to the present day. Permits from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers are now required before any alteration of navigable waters may occur. Little data are available on the miles of unstraightened water courses that remain, but they are truly a unique remnant of the past and need further protection.

Old river channels now cut off from the stream itself are called oxbows and are valuable areas for fish and wildlife. An estimated 40,000 acres of oxbows and overflow areas remain in inland river flood plains. Less than half of this acreage is permanent water. Rivers periodically inundate low areas and recharge oxbows. Clearing bottomland timber and filling wet areas for additional agricultural development continues to decrease this acreage.

Wetlands adjacent to or within the border rivers themselves often are overlooked. An estimated 324,785 acres constitute riverbeds of our 619 miles of border rivers. While the Missouri River lost most of its valuable backwaters and marshes, the creation of locks and dams for navigation on the Mississippi created some excellent river marshes in its upper portions. However Allamakee and Clayton counties boast the most valuable and picturesque river ponds and marshes, additional wetlands border the main channel down to Louisa County. The upper Mississippi still offers some of the finest wetlands in the state and is heavily used for recreation by hunters, fishermen, pleasure boaters, and sightseers. While much of this acreage is publicly owned, marshes and lakes within the confines of the river are threatened by siltation and deposition of spoil from channel dredging for navigation.

Recreational demand for boating, fishing, hunting, and camping have provided impetus for construction of numerous small lakes and reservoirs. In addition, four large flood-control reservoirs (30,250 acres) have been built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. These man-made lakes total 47,562 acres, most of which have been constructed in the southern half of Iowa where few natural wetlands exist. These impoundments provide excellent recreational opportunities and reduce demand on our natural lakes. We can expect wetland construction of this nature to continue, and water acreage to increase.

Farm ponds gained popularity in the late 1930s and early 1940s and construction has continued through the present day. According to the 1973 Soil Conservation Service survey, some 47,700 ponds totalling 49,000 acres were built. Most farm ponds are in the more rolling terrain of southern Iowa, where the main purpose is to retard erosion and provide water for livestock. As concern for protecting our valuable topsoil heightens, we can expect to see additional incentives for landowners to build farm ponds.

Construction of periodically flooded wetlands and marshes primarily waterfowl hunting areas is creating first-class water areas that are used by a variety of birds in migration. Artificial marshes of this kind probably will gradually increase in number as long as waterfowl hunting is allowed.

Two programs were in operation to save prairie marshes. The first was initiated in 1972 when a law was passed that required all waterfowl hunters to purchase a $1 state duck stamp. In 1979, the law was changed to require hunters 16 years and older to purchase a $5 stamp. Approximately 15 percent of present duck stamp funds are given to Ducks Unlimited in Canada to create waterfowl production areas. The remainder is spent in Iowa on wetland acquisition and development.

The second is, a cooperative state and federal program using funds from the federal duck stamp which is required of all waterfowl hunters 16 years or older. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has bought two waterfowl production areas in Iowa with these funds and, when recent budget restrictions are lifted, acquisition may continue.

The two programs do not supply enough funds to purchase wetlands in immediate danger of drainage, let alone buy drained land for reclamation. Sportsmen cannot bear this burden alone. Public awareness of the value of these wetlands is vital. If public support is not forthcoming, the only water areas remaining may be those already in public trust.

MEN OF THE MARSH and river have long been known for being a different breed. A little standoffish, idealistic maybe, but however you describe them, they have a certain air. They seem to possess a deep appreciation for the intricate, interwoven complexity of plants, animals, and water. One man who spent much of his life on the backwater marshes of the Mississippi River hunting, trapping, and fishing said: ". . . Once you have sensed her beauty and taken of her bounty, you will never be free of her compelling lure or a deep love to possess her." While most people are not as deeply affected by the marsh, they can enjoy its beauty, bountiful wildlife, and sense her moods. Let's listen to the annual moods of the marsh. When March and April winds melt the ice along the shallow marsh edge, another life cycle begins. Some of the first to return are red-winged blackbirds and mallard ducks. Close behind, a host of other ducks -- pintail, green-winged teal, shoveler, wigeon, scaup, redheads, and canvasbacks -- follow. Snow geese, Canada geese, and white-fronted geese can also be seen. Frogs soon serenade the homecoming and the announcement of spring. Yellow-headed blackbirds, Virginia and sora rails, coots, terns, herons, marsh hawks, more ducks, and a host of wading birds arrive shortly after.

No other habitat seems so alive. The excitement in the calls of marsh birds tells of the urgency and importance of home and a new breeding season. It is almost impossible to keep from being swept up in this excitement. Each calling bird proclaims his greatness. Newly arriving birds sweep low over the marsh surveying for a new home. Earlier arrivals run off intruders into their newly established territories.

Small mammals are active also. Muskrats busily swim along, appearing to be going somewhere in a hurry. Mink dart along the marsh edge, looking for a meal at this new time of plenty. Raccoon tracks show where they have searched for frogs and crayfish. Other animals -- red fox, badger, skunk, opossum, ground squirrel, and meadow voles -- can be seen in the uplands along the marsh.

Green cattail shoots spring up from the old root stalks, giving the marsh a greenish cast while marsh iris lift purple heads. Spring has arrived, and the birds are somewhat quieter as they go about the business of raising families.

Weather changes are more acute in the marsh, and you become intimately aware of the changing moods. Cattails tell of shifting winds, and the air and birds announce a coming storm.

Hot summer days find the marsh more subdued, except for the chatter of coot and rails, the flights of blackbirds, and the dipping and diving flight of the tern. Broods of ducklings can be seen in open-water areas in early morning or late evening busily eating a high protein diet of insects. This tranquil scene may best be appreciated at dawn's first light when the coolness of nighttime still clings. The buzzing of millions of insects can almost deafen you and make your stay uncomfortable, but that is part of the marsh.

Before changes in leaf color announces autumn, the marsh tells you that something is about to happen. Ducks testing their newly acquired flight feathers zoom restlessly across the marsh to join other ducks sitting in a favorite cove or along a mud bar. Blackbirds stream from their cattail roosts in an almost never-ending fashion. Muskrats actively chew off cattail stems and tow them away to be added to a winter home. Soon what is probably the most compelling of all of man's association with the marsh comes. When the southward migration of birds is in full swing, hunting season for ducks and geese begins.

In the wind's chill through the darkness of predawn, coots, rails, blackbirds, lesser yellowlegs, and gabbling ducks converse across the marsh. The tone of their calls is different from that of spring -- they sense the coming winter and the need to move south.

THE FUTURE does not need to be bleak. While most of our watery real estate has either been destroyed or altered by man, we have created an unrivaled agricultural system. What is most important now is that we protect what remains and secure the future of our natural resources.

Ninety-five percent of our prairie wetlands have been drained, but we need also to realize that to lose what remains would be an even greater tragedy. What can be done? More money is needed to make a major impact and to prevent further drainage. Sportsmen who have shouldered the major burden in the past need help from the general public, who can urge lawmakers to fund sound conservation projects to save our remaining wetlands. If money were available, drained basins could be bought, tile lines could be broken, and, with minor dirt work and a structure to control the water level, a marsh could be restored.

Most rivers have been drastically altered and will never return to their natural state; however, we still have several very alluring river corridors. If corridors could be bought along major scenic rivers in our state, a portion of these waterways could be preserved. Even with man's changes, they remain beautiful. We should strive to protect at least a few segments of our wildest and free-spirited rivers.

Preservation of wetlands is important. They serve as water-holding bodies to retard runoff and recharge groundwater supplies. Wise use of groundwater is becoming more and more important. Holding water on the land provides water for livestock as well as water supplies for towns and industry, and reduces erosion-causing runoff. Wetlands also make valuable outdoor classrooms. While many older Iowans may have rural backgrounds, our young rapidly increasing urban population does not. The need to educate them is great.

Recreational demands are also increasing, and water-related sports are at the top of the list. Whether it is fishing, water skiing, pleasure boating, canoeing, hunting, photography, or birdwatching, an increasing human population will make an ever increasing demand on remaining wetlands. We must not misuse what we have left. We still can protect and reclaim some wetlands.