I used to visit the desert's of S. Cal a lot.... Imperial County.... The Canal, off the Colorado River was Cemented in [they were loosing to much acre footage to soak in]...
When they made it concrete for miles, they had to add 'wild life' feeders out from the canal, because the steep sides of canal didn't afford easy entry to water for the small desert beast's that were now using the area... Law of unintended consequences... birds/animals of prey, just got lazy and hung out near feeders.... waiting for next meal... I went to a DAC Meeting and some old timer said:
"....we must fund upkeep of government mandated wild life feeders which must support the wildlife which was brought to the area artificially by humans building a soft side canal in the first place...WTF...now ...if we don't fund, we are somehow tampering with nature ?"