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DEAD WHOOPING CRANE CLICKUP
Photograph by Joel Sartore
Water quality

This whooping crane (above) died in New Mexico’s Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge from avian cholera, which probably bred in stagnant pools of water, despite the best efforts of refuge managers.

In other refuges, such fragile animal life can be weakened by waterborne diseases when a species diminishes to the point of inbreeding, or when competition for food inhibits their welfare and procreation.

High-quality water supplies are critical to fish and wildlife on most refuges, especially in western states where the water problem is exacerbated by water-rights struggles for a dwindling resource. Of 224 western refuges, some 150 report conflicts with other water uses, such as agriculture, grazing, and hydropower.

Outside agencies or organizations may control water supplies for some refuges in these states, and irrigation companies charge them annual fees to deliver water. Refuges may even pay costly pumping fees. The delivery of water in California has escalated dramatically due to drought, putting that state’s wetland wildlife in peril.


©1996 National Geographic Society. All rights reserved.

 
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