WRP- Good or Bad for Ducks

[HDC]

I have some farm land on the banks of the Tallahatchie that I am thinking about putting in WRP.

I am curious if any of you have experience with WRP and if you think it is a good or bad thing for duck hunting.

[peewee]

HDC, you gonna get some interesting opinions on this one. I am just gonna tell you like this. 10 years ago all of my camp was in beans and was some of the best duck hunting in South Delta. Now that it is in WRP I can barely get folks in my camp to hunt with me b/c of the lack of ducks. If you are serious about ducks, I personally would leave it in farm land. If you want deer, put it in wrp. We got more deer running around in coffee weed than you can shake a stick at.

If you want some prime examples ride to Lake George WMA, or the fields in front of DNF. If you grew up in that area you know what type of duck hunting used to be there. Look at it now.

[tunica du4u]

HDC, Do a lot of checking into this before going with WRP. If you are doing it for the $ gain, WRP is permanent FOREVER. You get more money up front on WRP but you get that money 1 time. 100 years from now & 5 owners later it is still WRP.
If this land is farm land CRP is for a 15 year term, $90 + an acre up front 1 time payment and then annual payments of $50+ acre for the term of the CRP. If you are doing it for the good of the ducks. Yes I believe it is good in some ways but it is just X # of ducks and so many places for them. More places dilutes the big #'s and spreads them out. 50-60 years from now it might be a waterfowl paradise. We still have literally thousands of acres behind the levee that still flood that used to be duck heaven but now no ducks. They are in the flooded field with easy food source. Then again you take the Flint woods in Tunica County. About 600+ acres of timber that used to have marginal duck hunting. Now they have built a levee around it and flood it and thousands of ducks now have moved from the fields to the woods. Kinda like a roll of the dice. My opinion only

[webbmaster]

Agree with Peewee.

Much better off with beans if you are hunting ducks.



This may be a little off the subject, but we let some of our fields that were bean last year just grow wild this year. The ducks ate it up early in the season, then of course the water rose too high. But never the less, I have heard that you need to bushhog a field that has wild weeds and grass EACH year. Thereby you allow new weeds and grass to grow more effeciently. Otherwise, you find yourself in a situation like WRP where the food is not all that great for ducks.

[tupe]

Well it depends on where you stand on conservation and the future of healthy habitat in the Delta.

Yes, WRP is not the best "duck magnet" now but in the future when those trees become a forest and you can look at your grandchildren and tell them how all this used to be farmland but you put it in WRP to replace the vast amounts of bottomland hardwoods that have been cleared for ag. you will see the difference then.

WRP is not about "What I get." it is about restoring the balance and providing for future generations of waterfowlers.

M.B.

[tupe]

WRP does in fact have a life time option but you can also enroll it on a shorter term basis. Of course you take lower payment to do so.


M.B.

[mottlet]

It's funny...I had several conversations about WRP as my hunting partner and I drove by the fields on our way out of Delta National. Peewee's right, there is definitely no question that the hunting on the south end took a big hit when those fields went into WRP. They used to be like the sanctuary at Mahannah; they always held birds. Then they would fly around DNF and you would shoot them. Now....well, it's a bit more difficult, especially with seasons like the last two.

But, long-term, WRP IS good for the ducks. The more land we put back in trees, the closer the Delta gets to looking like it used to. But we'll never get it all back. I'm not sure duck hunting, especially in the south Delta, will ever look like it did ten, twenty years ago again, especially if the pumps get built. But I guess that's another thread.

mottlet

[Double_R]

Ouch, someone struck a nerve. I agree with alot of what has been said already. Our club consists of a large WRP tract in the south Delta. The south Delta is becoming increasingly "less ducky". For example, while there were certainly more ducks the last few weeks of this past season, the south delta did not experience the boom time the boys up in Tallahatchie County did. Why? Our club takes full advantage of easement allowances - we plant corn and milo the way it's supposed to be planted; jap millet and intensively manage for natural moist soil vegetation that is supposedly desired by waterfowl. Still, we kill fewer ducks relative to areas north of Highway 82. Why? Is restored wetlands, per se, bad for waterfowl?

IMHO, what's going on in the south delta is this - and mind you that my career has consisted almost entirely of forested wetland resoration in the delta and these following thoughts have only recently begun to evolve - in the past decade, nearly 250,000 acres of ag land has been restored via government sponsored cost-share programs, such as WRP and CRP. Most importantly, prevalent wildlife management practice on these tracts is NO MANAGEMENT - BENIGN NEGLECT. Most of the holes are rife with as sesbania, cuckleburr and aster and other late-succesional weed perennials that have little marginal utility for waterfowl. No planting nothing, maybe pull the boards, maybe not. I know because I've experienced first hand what's involved in making these habitats more suitable after they've suffered from such non-management.

Remember also that most of the lands originally incepted into such programs were truly marginal farmlands - lands that were too wet to farm and might should not have ever been cleared in the first place; the kinds of places that go under and stay under most years. It's conservation of wetlands, no doubt, but maybe public perception is that Ma Nature will take care of the details? That in and of itself, restored wetlands are duck magnets, no management necessary? Couple of years ago another biologist that frequents this site goes and inspects a tract that's not holding water in January - the landowners're in an uproar. Guess what? Thay never even put the boards in the structure! Didn't know they had to! Maybe, just maybe, on a landscape level, so much property has been taken out of productivity that the south delta can no longer sustain the wintering flight it once did? Maybe it's not so much the program or the habitat as it is what becomes of them without proper and timely management?

The going rate for permanant easements are highly seductive - $900/acre. But if you're going to enroll a piece of property, maybe carefully weigh what's going on around you, now and possibly in the future, and act accordingly. It's one thing to be an island of "natural" wetlands surrounded by an ocean of flooded rice, beans, and catfish industry that will sustaina tremendous wintering flight; something else entirely to be smack dab in the middle of a quarter million acres restored yet highly under managed wetland that will not. Maybe leave some rice or bean or otherwise farmed ground interspersed on a property?

Maybe what's needed is for a privatly funded conservation organization - like DU (ha), DELTA (ha ha), Mississippi Wildlife, or Delta Wildlife - to sponsor secondary management practices or technical assistance services for the appropriate management of restored wetlands?

Figure 30% restored hydrology on 250,000 acres restored wetlands being appropriately managed for waterfowl - 82,500 acres. Figure further 5,000 pounds/acre corn or 3,678 pounds/acre milo or 5000 pounds/acre rice allowable for 5% of that 250,000 acres - 12,500 acres - and it all stays there for the ducks. The remaining 70,500 acres is producing 400 pounds/acre foxtail, 2000 pounds acre sedge, 3000 pounds/ac wild millet, 1500 pounds/ac rumex, 2000 pounds/ac smartweed, 1500 pounds/acre sprangletop, xxx pounds/acre other seed producers noxious to farming. We're talking seriously better habitat productivity on restored wetlands than the status quo.


Sorry for the long post but, dammit boy, do I feel better!

[Wildfowler]

Wow, you just said a mouthful Double_R, I personally agree with what you just said. Particularly, the fact that secondary land management on a large scale basis is needed badly here.

[HDC]

Double_R - I appreciate the post, and I guess you are saying that given that there is plenty of farm land around you, WRP can be a "duck magnet", provided that you take care of it by planting that 10% and keeping out those unwanted weeds.

I have read that you can exempt out 10% for crops, but what about the other 90%? Does it all have to be planted in trees, or can you plant it in natural grasses favored by ducks and bush hog it every year to encourage new growth?

[mottlet]

Wow...Double_R, you said everything I wanted to say but didn't have time to cause I had to go to class. Good post. Hopefully, some folks will read it and adopt actual management strategies for their WRP tracts.

mottlet

[Double_R]

HDC - Only 30% of the easement area can be restored to managed water, the rest will be planted to trees. They'll let you plant ag crops on 5% total contract area (I may have misquoted 10% orig post). Jap millet, however, does not count as an ag crop, can be established throughout, and can produce 1500+ pounds/ac waterfowl forage. Periodic discing and slow water drawdowns are generally more effective than mowing to establish desired annuals but as you likely know, discing during the growing season will result in coffee weed in the areas we're talking about. A little art and a little science will go a long way.

[acornman]

The term benign neglect is quite correct. Double R coined that one over a year ago and I give him full credit for it. In my line of work....I have visited over 500 WRP hydrology units in the past 10 months, and I see the sesbania/cockleburr problem up close and personal. It is a year round job to properly manage a duck hole. It is a combination of observation/art/science....and spending the time and effort to look after your investment. You get back out of this what you put into it.....no effort equals no results. You buy expensive waders, guns, decoys, shells, lease/land ownership and then leave out the most important part....MANAGEMENT.!! Some WRP tracts in 20 years are going to be honey holes...if we ever get some good migrations into the south Delta. Those that change hands rapidly and get bought by absentee owners will not be honey holes only mud holes. If you wait until mid-November to put your boards in ...you have no clue about shallow water management....if you don't understand a slow drawdown vs a quick drawdown....same thing....if you cannot identify 15-20 common wetland plants....same thing. The point is ...we can set the table much better than we are doing in the south Delta.....a component of ag crops is possible on WRP with NRCS permission. WRP represents an artificial ecosystem for the most part...we no longer have natural hydrology (flood pulses) or meandering rivers...these systems are now dependent on humans for management. If we get some hands on management out there, then we will have done our part...it is up to Mother Nature and the ducks to come down the flyway......I hope this helps out.....acornman

[gadwall2]

WRP in the delta-I wouldn't if I already farmed it

WRP in the hills- will attract ducks if managed correctly

[tallyquacker]

worked for us