“It also requires precise management of water levels throughout the year to promote good, seed-producing plants,” Jason “Buck” Jackson, said.Īccording to Jackson, annual smartweeds, wild millets, toothcup, and other moist-soil plants need wet conditions in spring to get started, but then need to be treated like a row crop and irrigated every couple of weeks to increase their growth and yield. “Managing for moist-soil plants requires you to manipulate vegetation with cleated rollers to reduce competition and promote germination of beneficial plant seeds in the seed bank,” Jackson said. It still requires hard work and precise water control to maximize the benefit for waterfowl. But creating moist-soil habitat is much more than sitting back and watching the grass grow. These wetland grasses and forbs offer abundant food for waterfowl and are more reliable than agricultural crops, which can be prone to setbacks from disease and infestation by insects and other pests. A portion of the grant also was used to purchase a 40-acre inholding at Bayou DeView and fund a waterfowl-habitat project on Dale Bumpers White River National Wildlife Refuge.Īccording to Jason “Buck” Jackson, statewide wetland program coordinator for the AGFC, moist-soil management essentially is farming for select native plants. DU helped write and administer the grant and brought along matching contributions, both financially and with in-kind donations of land and labor to complete the package needed to receive the grant. Ducks Unlimited stepped in to help carry the load. But for every dollar given, the state must contribute a dollar from nonfederal sources. Much of the funding for the Brookings project came from a $1 million North American Wetlands Conservation Act grant, a competitive grant from the U.S. This year’s work focused on constructing and moving levees to better manage the flow of water through the system to flood it when needed and remove it quickly when the time comes to dry things out. Last year, contractors buried thousands of feet of pipe to improve water delivery throughout the moist-soil units and placed a new relift pump in the Black River to offer a more reliable and efficient year-round water source. The Brookings Moist-Soil Unit complex is a specially managed portion of the WMA reserved as a rest area for ducks, offering them food without pressure and a reason to stay on and around the WMA instead of moving on during their migration. The project promises to substantially increase the amount of food able to be produced for waterfowl in the 151-acre complex of managed native vegetation. POCAHONTAS - The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission and Ducks Unlimited recently put the finishing touches on a two-year renovation project at the Brookings Moist Soil Unit within Dave Donaldson Black River Wildlife Management Area in Northeast Arkansas.
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