To help safeguard wildlife during the national defense emergency, Army engineers are cooperating with New York and Federal conservation agencies in planning to protect wildfowl areas from damage by maintenance dredging operations in the navigable channel of the Hudson River, the Fish and Wildlife Service reported today to Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes.
This is an example of how national defense agencies are endeavoring to avoid repetition of mistakes made during the World War, said Albert M. Day, Fish and Wildlife Service official designated as liaison officer to keep informed of defense activities that affect wildlife.
Precautions taken by the War Department on the Hudson River not only will avoid destruction during the emergency, Day pointed out, but also are laying the groundwork for wildfowl protection in future dredging operations.
Assisting the Army engineers, Service biologists surveyed marshlands along the river and, with the cooperation of State conservation officials, mapped a 25-mile section centering near the town of Hudson to indicate those areas producing wildrice, wildcelery, and other wildfowl foods.
Another survey is planned shortly to provide a guide for the protection for wildlife resources in dredging operations which may be undertaken in the future.
P.N. 163862
