Streamflow conditions and forecasts have started to decrease as the mercury begins to rise and rains begin their summer patterns. Fortunately, area streamflow conditions in central and southwest Kansas have been higher than the average seen in recent years.
Where drought conditions at times feel like the norm, Kansans have learned to use to the rain and water before mother nature takes it back. That’s what Cheyenne Bottoms Wildlife Area does with the Arkansas River and Wet Walnut Creeks when their banks are full.
“We’ve been drawing from the Arkansas since May 1st and it’s been a full tube since May 27th,” said Cheyenne Bottoms Wildlife Area Manager Jason Wagner. “We have to go out west to clear the grate every couple days.”
The tube that is the origin of the diversion system that transfers the water north and then east to the Bottoms is five foot in diameter and has a grate that helps prevent driftwood and debris from clogging the tube.
“We’re trying to fill up the interior pools and then later in the year we’ll transfer water to the other pools. Pool 1A is three-quarters full so we started putting water in 1B and 1C.”
In the 1950s a series of canals and dams was built to divert flows from the Arkansas River and Wet Walnut Creek to supplement the two intermittent streams, Blood and Deception creeks, that naturally feed the Bottoms. Water from the Arkansas River meets the diversion dam south of Dundee and then flows north to the Wet Walnut and then east across Barton County to another diverting dam before entering the refuge system. Once at the wildlife area, depending on the time of year and season, managers may store the water in the large interior pools before pumping water to the outlying pools for bird watching, hunting, and conservation efforts during the fall and spring migrations.
“This is the most water we’ve had since March of 2022.”Jason Wagner, Cheyenne Bottoms Wildlife Area Manager
Water levels are Pool 1A 54”, Pool 1B 22-24”, Pool 1C 10-12”. The remaining Pools 2-5 are dry except for some standing sheet water from local rainfall but water won’t be transferred out of Pool 1 until later. Wagner explained that if water is put into the surrounding pools too early in the year evaporation loss and unwanted vegetation growth can be detrimental to the desired management practices. Adding water to the other pools right now could encourage invasive cattail germination and could have a negative impact on smartweed and barnyard grass growth, two plants management promotes as forage for migrating birds.
“It’s the most water we’ve gotten from the Ark in a long time. Blood and Deception creeks haven’t added much this year, they just haven’t had the rain to the north and north west so it’s been good being able to pull from the Ark for this long.”
“This is the most water we’ve had since March of 2022,” Wagner said.
