29
 years Wood Storks do not nest in the area; other years,

 nesting is aborted with the young abandoned.

 Populations of the food fish of Wood Storks change --

 from one year to the next, and the pattern of the variation

 is not completely understood. Fish production might be

 expected to be greater in wet years; but, in a study of

 fish populations in the Shark River Valley of Everglades

 National Park, Kushlan et al. (1975) found that fish

 populations decreased over a 3-yr period of above average

 rainfall.

 There has been a decline in Wood Stork populations in -

 south Florida during the past 15 yrs, perhaps because they

 have been nesting less frequently. The population decrease

 is coincidental with a downward trend in rainfall. It also -

 has occurred at the same time major changes in the water

 patterns of the area have been made by drainage and diking.

 During the past 15 yrs, networks of canals in .southwest

 Florida have converted large areas of wetland to suburbs,

 farms, and pastures. It is difficult to separate the

 effects of drainage and the effects of weather on the Wood

 Stork population and on other wading birds of south

 Florida, which also are declining. To complicate the

 problem of analysis and prediction, the Wood Stork is a

 long-lived species in which individuals do not reach sexual

maturity until they are several years old (Kahl, 1963).

The young produced by the fish stock of one year mature and

reproduce several years later. This causes a lag in the