Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center
This bulletin reviews Zimmerman's (1953) paper where it was reported that some Wisconsin lakes bordered with homes were so heavily used for recreation in the early 1940's that breeding ducks were discouraged from utilizing otherwise suitable habitat. Human activities on and near permanent water have increased tremendously. Activities of shore residents, fishermen, and boaters seem to discourage breeding waterfowl from using otherwise adequate habitat. On aerial waterfowl censuses, many duckless lakes with excellent stands of submerged aquatic plants were seen. This is especially true on smaller (under 1,000 acres (405 ha)) lakes with numerous piers and boats. Dillon (1956:37) reported that, on the 180-acre (72.9 ha) University Bay waterfowl refuge, fall fishing influenced use of the area by waterfowl, and boats on the bay often caused considerable disturbance.