Last month’s column, Fat and Happy, focused on the benefits spring floods were providing for waterfowl staging in our area at the time. Those benefits were related to extra food sources available for the ducks, as the result of floodwater. The extra food provided additional sources for nutrients the ducks need to help build calories for a safe and healthy return flight to their nesting grounds.
Now, thirty days and numerous heavy rains later, we’re still at flood stage and the effects of continued flooding are something many are concerned with. Flooding is always a serious issue, but flood, after flood, after flood, does present other problems. With rivers and lakes continuing to overflow and the ground having been thoroughly saturated with water for well over a month, the past three or four periods of heavy rain did nothing but aggravate area problems. This past week many of the large dams in northern Arkansas and the southern portion of Missouri have been forced to open their floodgates. In more than one instance, some of these floodgates had never been opened before, testifying to the overwhelming amount of water area farmers and residents are being forced to deal with.
The increased water flow set new water level records in many areas, creating problems not associated with past floods. Major levies have been severely eroded and in several cases levies have washed out completely. Roads have also been damaged or destroyed and there are untold acres of farmland still underwater. Much of the farmland will be inaccessible by road, even after the water recedes. While some of the damaged or destroyed levies were designed to help control the flow of area rivers, others played an important part for farming operations. With levies missing, fields damaged and planting season for rice at a critical point right now, it appears some farmers may miss their rice crop this year. Even though many higher ground farmers have started planting, several of the rice farmers I talked with this week voiced concerns over planting a rice crop past the middle of May. In past years most experienced a noticeable decrease in yields associated with late planting, along with an increased risk of damage from an early frost next fall.
Still yet, many of the fields located in the main floodway of area rivers are experiencing strong currents and some have as much as eight to ten feet of flood water still standing on them. If these farms don’t get planted in rice, they will probably be planted in late beans. While a bean crop should be beneficial to the farmer, soybeans do not produce the yield rice does. Lower yields means less duck food is spilt during harvest, not to mention that ducks prefer rice to beans. Beans also deteriorate much faster than rice, when flooded for ducks, which can affect food distribution for waterfowl this winter.
With several of Arkansas’ Wildlife Management Areas (WMA) being located in low lying areas, near or on river systems, I contacted Richard Johnson, Wetlands Program Coordinator with the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, for a damage report on state hunting ground. Richard informed me that he was not aware of any major damage to levy systems on WMAs to date, but went on to say; “It is possible that some of the WMAs, located closest to river systems, could experience some damage as a result of excessive river currents.” When asked, Richard also expressed concern over the effects prolonged periods of high water would have on the acorn crop, since many of the hardwoods are already budding throughout the state. “High water levels, this time of year, are not good for the hardwood trees and could have a negative effect on the acorn crop in low-lying areas,” he said. Obviously a poor or non-existent acorn crop in low-lying areas would further reduce available food sources for wintering ducks.
When asked what effect he thought the extended period of high water would have on the moist soil areas and wild grasses, Richard replied with what seemed to be a more positive outlook. With spring running well behind schedule, he felt the wild grasses and smartweed plants would maintain good production this summer. That is, if the floodwater will drain off and we don’t have anymore flooding for a while. Moist soil units (impoundments) and wild grasses provide an excellent food source for wintering waterfowl and if Richard is correct in his line of thinking, which I do agree with, then we should maintain an abundant crop of wild grass seed and smartweed, despite the extended period of flooding we’ve experienced. If water levels continue to recede there is also a chance rice farmers, farming in the lowest areas, could still get a rice crop planted. They may be forced to use aerial applications, but rice being planted in these low areas would go a long way toward maintaining traditional food sources for our state’s wintering waterfowl.
Late planting times for rice do mean a later than normal harvest, which may eliminate part of the germination problems associated with rice dropped on the ground during early harvest. Once on the ground, warm rains and heavy dew take their toll as the grain germinates and sprouts, leaving little or no food for the ducks. The reduction in the germination of seed spillage, resulting from a late harvest, could be enough to offset food sources that may be lost or not planted as a result of the massive floods, but until the flood water recedes and the ground dries up, no one will know the true extent of the damage. For that matter, it may be years before any of the problem areas fully understand what effects the prolonged floodwater has caused to croplands, hardwood bottoms and hunting ground.
From a duck hunter’s standpoint it’s safe to say, you can rest assured the ducks will find and use what food sources are available. Then again, until the migration starts, it looks like the duck hunters will have to …Wait and See … if the floods had an effect on the areas they like to hunt!
Charles “HammerTime” Snapp
www.arkansaswaterfowl.com
snapp1@sbcglobal.net
www.waterfowler.tv |
