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Prairie Basin Wetlands of the Dakotas:
A Community Profile

Chapter 5 -- Human Uses and Impacts

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5.1 -- Economic Function

The natural wetlands of North and South Dakota supply important economic and recreational benefits to the nation as a result of their prominence in the production of waterfowl and other migratory birds. Among the most important local, state, and regional benefits are providing water and forage to livestock, offering extensive recreational opportunities through hunting and fishing, flood control, ground-water recharge, and improving water quality. The importance of wetland habitat for wildlife, recreation, aesthetic values, and water quality is recognized by 9 out of 10 North Dakotans, based upon a recent poll (Fargo Forum, 31 December 1986; North Dakota Bureau of Governmental Affairs, unpubl. data). The same poll indicated 77% of the State's residents want tougher enforcement of laws controlling wetland drainage. Yet wetland protection is a politically contentious issue because grain growers, a dominant sector in the economy of most communities, cannot capture payment for many of the values society derives from wetlands. As a result, free-market incentives to drain are often stronger than those to maintain wetland habitat (Leitch 1983) and efforts to protect wetland habitat are often resisted. Drainage has also been encouraged because Federal price supports on agricultural commodities are paid equally whether crops are grown in the uplands or in drained wetland basins. The U.S. Congress addressed this issue in the Food Security Act of 1985 (Farm Bill) (H.R. 2100) by making agricultural producers ineligible for certain Federal assistance if they alter or drain wetlands existing after 23 December 1985, and produce agricultural commodities on these converted lands.

No economic benefits derived from prairie wetlands are more widely disseminated than those resulting from waterfowl production. The North American waterfowl resource, particularly the forms produced in prairie wetlands, contribute significant economic benefits to most states and numerous local communities. At the national level, waterfowl, including those produced in prairie wetlands, support recreation for about 2 million waterfowl hunters (Novara et al. 1987). An estimated $638 million was spent on migratory bird hunting in the United States in 1980 and an estimated $6.6 billion is spent annually for recreation related to nongame wildlife (U.S. Department of the Interior 1982). A significant part of both expenditures results from migratory birds reared in prairie wetlands.

In North and South Dakota, waterfowl hunting is a major recreational activity; the former state ranks first in the nation in number of waterfowl hunters per capita. Also, several thousand nonresidents travel to each of these states to hunt waterfowl each year and contribute several million dollars to local economies. In South Dakota, recreation associated with hunting the ring-necked pheasant brings $35 million annually to the State (U.S. Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service 1987), and is a significant source of income to many rural communities. Pheasants rely on wetlands for a major part of their winter habitat requirements in the Prairie Pothole Region. Trapping and hunting of resident furbearers provides a supplemental income source to several thousand residents of the Dakotas. Highly valued furbearers including the mink, muskrat, and raccoon occur primarily in association with prairie wetlands (See Section 3.7).

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