Playa Lakes Joint Venture
Vol. 8 Issue 4, May 2010
Playa Post
In this issue

 

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Top Stories

Colorado Water Users and Waterfowl Benefit from NAWCA Grant

On March 17, the North American Wetlands Conservation Act (NAWCA) Council approved 43 wetlands conservation projects for funding, including one in the northeast corner of Colorado.

  South Platte River
  South Platte River from Heyborne Property East (Photo by S. Gustin, Ducks Unlimited, Inc.)

A $75,000 NAWCA grant will help Ducks Unlimited (DU) purchase a conservation easement on approximately 700 acres of high quality habitat in Sedgwick County, Colorado. The easement, a voluntary legal agreement that restricts the type and amount of development that may take place on the land, will protect riparian and shallow-water wetlands on the Heyborne property south of the South Platte River near Ovid.

"All waterfowl hunters are aware of Ducks Unlimited’s reputation and commitment to waterfowl habitat," says property owner Kent Heyborne, "and I was personally familiar with other projects that DU has completed along the South Platte. Soon after I purchased the property, DU came to me with some ideas about enhancing its habitat value. Needless to say I was very excited to have the opportunity to partner with them."

"The Platte is an oasis for waterfowl in this arid state, but the ever-increasing need to serve Colorado’s urban population reduces the river’s flow to a mere trickle at times," explains Julia Firl, Land Protection Technician for Ducks Unlimited. "With so many demands, waterfowl and other wildlife end up relegated to the end of a very long list of water users."

This tract — surrounded by multiple State Wildlife Areas, USDA Wetlands Reserve Program easements, and other property owned by Ducks Unlimited — will contribute to a rapidly developing complex of protected lands in central Sedgwick County, providing a several-mile long corridor of uninterrupted riparian habitat.

Protecting the habitat is of primary concern to Heyborne. "From the outset, my only interest in purchasing the property was because of its beautiful riparian and upland habitat. Having the opportunity to protect the property forever while at the same time generating some funds for further habitat enhancement was a win-win."

The shallow-water wetlands were created as a result of a broad partnership whose objective is to meet the water needs of agricultural, municipal and endangered species through the appropriation of unused water near the Colorado/Nebraska state line.

The Heyborne conservation easement is only one of many efforts to conserve the habitat surrounding the South Platte River. Ducks Unlimited is one of the participants on the South Platte Wetland Focus Area Committee (SPFAC), an informal working group of public and private partners organized to facilitate the development of wetland conservation projects in the Colorado South Platte basin community. The members of the SPFAC work with willing public and private landowners on projects ranging from a few critical acres to landscape level wetland complexes.

Since opportunities to provide landscape level conservation projects are considerably greater in this area, the SPFAC concentrates its efforts on the region of the Platte River that extends eastward and downstream from Greeley to the Colorado/Nebraska state line. Encompassing 425,310 acres and 200 miles of river, this region historically contained more than 70,000 acres of wetlands.

"The Heyborne project is a very good example of the types of projects members of the SPFAC support and implement," says Wendy Figueroa, a conservation biologist with the Colorado Division of Wildlife and the SPFAC chairperson. "With land conservation aspects, waterfowl habitat enhancement and water augmentation/recharge aspects, it is a project which exactly fits into the mission statement of the committee."

According to Matt Reddy, Regional Biologist for Ducks Unlimited, "The Lower South Platte River is our highest priority migration and wintering area in the state, providing habitat for hundreds of bird species including Mallards, Blue-winged Teal and Northern Pintail, as well as Northern Harriers, Sandhill Cranes, American Avocets, Short-eared Owls and Long-billed Curlews."

Northeastern Colorado also comprises a strong agricultural and ranching community that depends on water from the South Platte River for crop irrigation. Under the Platte River Recovery Implementation Program (PRRIP), all water users on the South Platte River are required to replace water used to irrigate their crops with alternative water supplies such that downstream habitats are maintained for the benefit of Least Terns, Piping Plovers and Whooping Cranes. Wetlands on the Heyborne property accomplish this through natural recharge of the alluvial aquifer back into the Platte, helping Colorado water users meet their obligations under the PRRIP.

"I am extremely excited and impressed with DU's leadership in realizing this project that benefits so many interests," says Heyborne. "On a community level, augmentation credits from the project will allow eight local farmers to continue to irrigate farms that would otherwise have been dried up. As part of the agreement, local community members will also be able to use the property for youth hunts and hunting opportunities for disabled veterans. Local and migratory wildlife will benefit through increased surface water and associated food sources. The downstream watershed will benefit by retiming excess winter flows to the summer season when water is in much higher demand and flows dwindle. I am honored to be involved in such a project that benefits so many while only making my property more beautiful."

To learn more about the South Platte Wetland Focus Area Committee and how you can get involved, call Wendy Figueroa at 970-842-6342 or send an email.

 

PLJV Selected to Implement the Great Plains Landscape Conservation Cooperative

The Great Plains Landscape Conservation Cooperative (GPLCC) was officially formed at the first meeting of its interim Steering Committee on March 4, 2010. During the meeting, the committee decided that Playa Lakes Joint Venture (PLJV) would manage the GPLCC and use an expanded PLJV Management Board as the Steering Committee going forward. They further recommended that PLJV Coordinator Mike Carter be appointed as the GPLCC coordinator in a nonfederal position.

The geographic area of the GPLCC encompasses parts of eight states — New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, and Wyoming — with the focus on the first six states, an area that corresponds to the borders of the Playa Lakes and the Rainwater Basin Joint Ventures. The Playa Lakes and Rainwater Basin Joint Ventures are strong bird conservation partnerships with a successful history of collaboration between state fish and wildlife agencies, Natural Resource Conservation Service, USDA Farm Service Agency, U.S. Forest Service, non-governmental organizations, industry, private landowners, local governments, and a number of Fish and Wildlife Service programs. Both Joint Ventures were already moving in the direction of stronger science to support better conservation delivery.

According to Carter, the management decision boiled down to a simple question of 'If not us, then who?' "The move toward all species will certainly challenge us, but the foundation we have built will serve the partnership well."

As an applied conservation science partnership, the GPLCC will provide science and decision-support tools for the full complement of fish and wildlife resources in the southern and mid Great Plains geographic area. The products from this partnership will help inform management actions for greater impact on priority species and habitats in federal and state wildlife action plans.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service expects to obligate at least $875,000 to scientific projects for the GPLCC under its Climate Change Planning and Adaptive Science Capacity Program in fiscal year 2010.

 

Wanted: Have You Seen This Bird?

Have you seen a Bald Eagle nest recently? What about a Lesser Prairie-Chicken? If the sighting was in Oklahoma, the George Miksch Sutton Avian Research Center (Sutton Center) wants to know about it.

The Sutton Center is conducting a major Lesser Prairie-Chicken (LEPC) survey in northwestern Oklahoma. In 1999, the Sutton Center began an ambitious study into the ecology and causes of declines in Lesser Prairie-Chickens in Oklahoma and New Mexico. Since then, nearly 900 birds have been captured and radio-tagged, over 50,000 tracking locations recorded, and more than 300 nests located. Research in New Mexico was completed in March of 2006, but efforts continue in Oklahoma.

Now the Sutton Center is asking for your help. Please report any sightings of Lesser Prairie-Chickens in Oklahoma using their online LEPC Observation Form.

The Sutton Center also continues to monitor known Bald Eagle nests in Oklahoma. With help from the Sutton Center, the Bald Eagle was removed from the endangered and threatened species list on June 28, 2007. Each year aerial and ground surveys are conducted in the vicinity of Oklahoma release sites to determine nest occupancy rates and productivity. Since 1990, the number of nests in Oklahoma has increased nearly every year.

Last year, 106 pairs of eagles were counted. "That’s very remarkable! We thought if we had 10 pairs of breeding eagles that would be great," explains Alan Jenkins, Assistant Director of the Sutton Center, in a recent Playa Country episode on saving the Bald Eagle. "It’s been a very rewarding experience to watch this population grow to where they are almost common now."

Want to be a part of this success story? You can help the Sutton Center monitor the population by reporting any sightings of adult Bald Eagles on or next to a nest in Oklahoma between November and May via their online Bald Eagle Nest Observation Form.

The George Miksch Sutton Avian Research Center was founded in 1983 with the mission of finding cooperative conservation solutions for birds and the natural world through science and education. The Sutton Center is a private, non-profit organization located near Bartlesville, Oklahoma, and since 1997 has been a part of the Oklahoma Biological Survey in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Oklahoma.

 

What's Happening in Playa Country

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