- Joined
- Mar 11, 2001
- Messages
- 70,011
- Reaction score
- 1,007
Oct. 19, 2002
Drought hurts duck prospects
BRENT FRAZEE, The Kansas City Star
Like most area wetlands managers, Karl Karrow is looking to the sky these days, happy to see any dark cloud that floats over the Marais des Cygnes Wildlife Area.
There have been far too few of those rain clouds this year. After a wet spring, the faucet was turned off. And Marais des Cygnes, the same as many managed public hunting areas in Kansas and Missouri, went practically dry.
The effects of that drought are especially noticeable now, as the duck season approaches.
Less than a week from the eastern-Kansas opener Oct. 26, the Marais des Cygnes wetlands are looking anything but wet.
In fact, hunters would have a hard time recognizing much of the wildlife area that is a popular waterfowl-hunting spot. As of last week, Karrow said that both of the A units, both of the F units and C-2 were completely dry.
He is pumping water into the marshes daily now, trying to add moisture to the wildlife area. But he knows that the situation isn't going to change overnight, not unless the region gets a couple of soaker rains.
"The river is so low that we're only able to pump for nine hours a day," he said. "So it's a slow process.
"We just need a significant rain event."
Throughout Missouri and Kansas, wetlands managers are saying the same thing.
The hot, dry summer took its toll across the states and cast a cloud over the duck seasons.
Take a look:
• At the Squaw Creek National Wildlife Refuge in northwest Missouri, both of the main pools are completely dry and little water remains in other marshes.
• At the Cheyenne Bottoms Wildlife Area in central Kansas, some key hunting pools are either dry or have only sheetwater. Hunters are concentrated on what little water there is (the season opened Oct. 12 there) and that has resulted in poorer-than-normal hunting.
• At the Fountain Grove Conservation Area in north-central Missouri, two major hunting areas -- the open area and the east-side walk-in -- are dry. And officials expect only 25 of the 40 hunting positions to be in use by the opener.
• At the Neosho Wildlife Area in southeastern Kansas, water also is low and the effects of the drought are being felt.
Wetlands managers aren't panicking, though. A few heavy rains could change things almost overnight, they say.
With heavy stands of moist-soil food growing in the dry basins, an influx of water could set up a scenario that could draw large concentrations of ducks.
Even if that rain doesn't come, most of the managed wetlands have pumping stations that will help. Most of those pumps are in use now, adding water to the marshes in preparation for the duck season.
"In the dry years like this one, the managed wetlands offer some of the only options ducks have," said Dale Humburg, a waterfowl biologist for the Missouri Department of Conservation. "Those are the years when we see high harvests at our public areas."
But just the same, more rain would be welcome.
"To make the area attractive to migrating ducks, we could use more water," said Marvin Kraft, a waterfowl biologist for the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks. "When we don't have ideal conditions, there's always the danger that the ducks will either stay for a shorter period of time or simply fly past."
Drought hurts duck prospects
BRENT FRAZEE, The Kansas City Star
Like most area wetlands managers, Karl Karrow is looking to the sky these days, happy to see any dark cloud that floats over the Marais des Cygnes Wildlife Area.
There have been far too few of those rain clouds this year. After a wet spring, the faucet was turned off. And Marais des Cygnes, the same as many managed public hunting areas in Kansas and Missouri, went practically dry.
The effects of that drought are especially noticeable now, as the duck season approaches.
Less than a week from the eastern-Kansas opener Oct. 26, the Marais des Cygnes wetlands are looking anything but wet.
In fact, hunters would have a hard time recognizing much of the wildlife area that is a popular waterfowl-hunting spot. As of last week, Karrow said that both of the A units, both of the F units and C-2 were completely dry.
He is pumping water into the marshes daily now, trying to add moisture to the wildlife area. But he knows that the situation isn't going to change overnight, not unless the region gets a couple of soaker rains.
"The river is so low that we're only able to pump for nine hours a day," he said. "So it's a slow process.
"We just need a significant rain event."
Throughout Missouri and Kansas, wetlands managers are saying the same thing.
The hot, dry summer took its toll across the states and cast a cloud over the duck seasons.
Take a look:
• At the Squaw Creek National Wildlife Refuge in northwest Missouri, both of the main pools are completely dry and little water remains in other marshes.
• At the Cheyenne Bottoms Wildlife Area in central Kansas, some key hunting pools are either dry or have only sheetwater. Hunters are concentrated on what little water there is (the season opened Oct. 12 there) and that has resulted in poorer-than-normal hunting.
• At the Fountain Grove Conservation Area in north-central Missouri, two major hunting areas -- the open area and the east-side walk-in -- are dry. And officials expect only 25 of the 40 hunting positions to be in use by the opener.
• At the Neosho Wildlife Area in southeastern Kansas, water also is low and the effects of the drought are being felt.
Wetlands managers aren't panicking, though. A few heavy rains could change things almost overnight, they say.
With heavy stands of moist-soil food growing in the dry basins, an influx of water could set up a scenario that could draw large concentrations of ducks.
Even if that rain doesn't come, most of the managed wetlands have pumping stations that will help. Most of those pumps are in use now, adding water to the marshes in preparation for the duck season.
"In the dry years like this one, the managed wetlands offer some of the only options ducks have," said Dale Humburg, a waterfowl biologist for the Missouri Department of Conservation. "Those are the years when we see high harvests at our public areas."
But just the same, more rain would be welcome.
"To make the area attractive to migrating ducks, we could use more water," said Marvin Kraft, a waterfowl biologist for the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks. "When we don't have ideal conditions, there's always the danger that the ducks will either stay for a shorter period of time or simply fly past."
