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High waters, rainfall affecting wetland, waterfowl

High waters, rainfall affecting wetland, waterfowl

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Year-round moist-soil work focused on disturbance

AGFC Communications DES ARC – There has been a disturbance going on not far from here, but hardly anyone has noticed. All anyone will ever notice, if the disturbance continues as planned, is a great feeding ground for migrating waterfowl later this fall.

AGFC biologists have been disturbing the soil in parts of Steve N. Wilson Raft Creek Bottoms Wildlife Management Area.

The reason for this is to help native seeds in the soil flourish in the growing season in the AGFC’s moistsoil units. These areas are growing smartweed, sedge and millet, which ducks will thrive on when they pass through Arkansas this winter.

However, because the White River has been backed up for much of spring and summer, some of these areas are a little more than “moist” – some are under nearly 2 feet of water, which holds back a lot of growth. Until recently, some places were under 5 feet of water.

When prepping moist-soil units to be at their best when waterfowl arrive, AGFC biologists like Jason “Buck” Jackson and Jacob Bokker give those fields some assistance. In this case, they “disturb” the soil with a tractor and heavy stubble roller that simulates disking, only it’s done with water covering last year’s vegetation residue and it’s far more efficient than waiting to disk the field when it dries. This soil disturbance, though, can only be done in up to 10 inches of water, says Jackson, the AGFC’s statewide Wetlands Program Coordinator. If all goes according to plan, as water recedes off the fields, they’ll be loaded with a smorgasbord of goodness for ducks.

“A moist-soil habitat is a diverse community of (annual) plants that really produces a high volume of seeds as well as invertebrates,” Jackson said. “It’s a true buffet, compared to the (agriculture) fields. An ag field is basically loaded with candy bars, where moist-soil habitat is a 100foot buffet, fully loaded.

A good moist-soil unit will provide the macronutrients, the proteins and amino acids in a digestible food source for the ducks.

A field of rice is basically a bunch of Snickers bars lying around.”

The AGFC has 208 moistsoil units totalling about 8,900 acres around Arkansas, Jackson said.

The nutrients ducks get from eating smartweed, millet and other heavy-seeded annual plants, along with the invertebrates they will find while dining in the moistsoil units in fall, winter and spring, will be essential for survival, pairing and migration as well as for their breeding and egg-laying next spring in the northern nesting grounds of the Dakotas and Canada.

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