Chautauqua Narrative Report January-December 1964 \

$Chautauqua Narrative Report January-December 1964 \$ CHAUTAUQUA NARRATIVE REPORT JANUARY-DECEMBER 1964 \ Division of ¥il<ilife EofUêa Iterative Bcport ncv.tl^Slig He^ QmmvmL^^. Tear 1964 Chiefs Office; lli'^ CllltLl Tfi I Iml Iili Mr. Staaania* ê^^SatxM kj Wildlife: Mr. Bellou i Bfe». Webster Mr* Stiles Resoarcegs Mr. Stollberg l?r. tob Mr. Britt Interpretations Mr. DctMont llr. Monsmi Mr. SoJîesn Job^gorjg^; llr. Began ^feââe^^ NARRATIVE REPORT 19 6 1+ PERSONNEL William Le French Refuge Manager (Transferred to Parker Rirer Refuge, Mass., 6/15/61;) James W. Salyer Refuge Manager (EOD 6/25/6I|., transferred from Lower Souris Refuge, N.D.) Charles Watts Refuge Clerk Lester Wohlwend Operator General Temporary Employees Don Hahn 7/5 - 6/l2 Laborer James McCausland 7/*? - 8/l2 Laborer Dan Dietrich 7/7 - 10/^ Laborer Chautauqua National Wildlife Refuge Havana, Illinois CONTENTS Page I. General A. Weather Conditions „ „. „ 1 Bo Habitat Conditions••••••••••••••••••• • • 2 1. Water 2 2o Food and Cover........ 2 II. Wildlife A. Migratory Birds 5 Bo Upland Game Birds 10 C o Big Game Animals.......« «.,.. 1^ D. Fur Animals, Predators, Rodents, and 10 Other Mammals , E. Hawks, Eagles, Owls, Crows, Ravens, and Magpies•••••••••• • Fo Other BLrds*.... 12 G. Fishoo....,oo o..o. 13 H. Reptiles.o.oooo.., 13 I. Disease, o o.. o... o ••••• 13 III. Refuge Development and. Maintenance Ao Physical Development 13 B. Plantings 15 C« Collections and Receipts 15 Do Control of Vegetation «. 15 E. Planned Burning « 15 Fo Fires o, oo. o.o.o.ooo.o.. 16 IV. Resource Management A. Grazing.. o o.»......«• o 16 Bo Haying. ••••«••••••••••••• „ 16 C. I J? Harvest ooo o o. o.. o. o...... o. o... o 16 Do Timber Removal<> ••••••••••••••• 16 Eo Commercial Fishing ...o... 16 F. Other Uses. , IB V. Field Investigation or Applied Research A. Banding 19 Bo Progress Reports 20 C. D. E. VI. Public Relations A. Recreational Uses.. ....o...........«.«... 20 Bo Refuge Visitors.oo , 21 C. Refuge Participation. „ 25 D. Huntingoooooo.oooo 26 E« Violations.... o. o 26 VII. Other Items A. Items of Interest 27 B. Photographs ....o 28 Co Signature.oooo.oo.ooooo 29 I. GENERAL A. Weather Conditions. Precipitation Max. Min. Month Normal Snowfall Temp. Temp. January- 1.19 1.82 6.0 60 -3 February .85 1.53 10.0 54 $ Marqh 3*65 2.67 7.1 67 16 April 6.46 3.55 86 23 May .59 3.84 35 June 4*65 4.09 96 V> July 2.84 3.50 99 47 August 3.34 3.03 99 41 September 2.57 3.60 95 34 October .12 2.48 85 21 November 3.45 2.11 5.3 80 0 December 2.76 1.66 8.4 54 0 Annual Totals 32.47 33.88 36.8 Extremes 99 -3 The above precipitation and temperature data were obtained from the official Weather Bureau Station in Havana, Illinois. The mean temperature was 2° above average for the whole year 1964, as established ^y the "Local Climatogical Data" from 1901 to 1963 for Havana. Total precipitation during the year was 1.41M below the 50 year average of 33.88. During the months of February, May, and October, precipitation was less than one inch. October, 1964 was the driest on record in Illinois. This area the climate is classified as the humid continental type, which is marked by frequent changes in weather. The climate varies from relatively warn or hot summer to relatively cool or cold winters. A killing frost this year occured on the 6th of October which is about 2 weeks early. 2. B« Habitat C^^tipffigt 1. Water a* Lak^ Chautauqua Water levels in Lake Chautauqua were slightly below the approved 435.0 MSL until April when the Illinois River rose to 439.0 MSL and put 3.5 feet of water in the lake. A second small rise put water over the west spillway in late June. Water levels remained above the approved level until the summer drawdown was begun July 15. The drawdown was delayed from June 15 to July 15 as a result of a request by the Chautauqua - Goofy Ridge Sportsmen's Club. This delay was to maintain maximum water depth for fishing during the annual vacation period of local industries such as Caterpillar and International Harvester. The gates were open until August 11, 28 days, during which time 4750 acre-feet of water were drained. About 525 acres of mud flat were exposed for planting Japanese millet and to promote growth of wild food plants. The gates were closed when the water elevation reach 433.95, o.45 feet above the approved drawdown level. The lateness of the season, the slow rate of drawdown and the small gain in exposed acreage were factors influencing our decision that further drawdown would be unwise. After closing the gates August 11, water levels remained constant near 434.0 MSL until early October. Water diverted into Lake Chautauqua from Quiver Creek in October raised the level to 434*50 MSL by November 15. This was a total increase of 1500 acre-feet. By December 31, Quiver Creek water and the results of 6.21 inches of rain had brought the level to 435.30 MSL. Quiver Creek water is good clean spring water that improves the quality of the lake water to the benefit of aquatic plants, waterfowl, and fish. The inflow from Quiver Creek has permitted us to raise the level enough to crack one of the radial gates and establish a flow through the lake. b. Liverpool Lake Liverpool Lake flucaates with the IllinoisRiver which reached a low level of 429.8 MSL August 14 and never again rose above 432.0 until late December. Only small pools of water were available to waterfowl during the fall months. c. Wels Lake - Cameron Uhit Weis Lake flucuates with the Illinois River and water level management is not possible* Due to the extreme dry fall season, water levels in the river never raised enough to flood over into the planted millet fields at the Cameron Unit. 2» Food and Cover, a. Chautauqua, Lake Chautauqua had a moderate ice cover through January and by the end of February the lake was 50% free of ice. Wintering populations of Mallards and Canada geese used spring openings and Quiver Creek for resting areas. Waste grains, mostly corn in nearBy fields provided the major winter and spring food source. Some supplemental feeding of corn was conducted on the south dike and spillway. Sago pondweed was relatively abundant during the summer but very little was available to fall waterfowl populations. The unstable silt bottom of Lake Chautauqua enabled wave action to uproot vast stands of this plant and deposit it on the shore in wind-rows. Inspection of these deposits revealed heavy seed heads. In addition to loss of sago to wave washing is the consumption of this food source by coots. Coot flocks arrived in late August and feasted almost exclusively on sago. Significant mallard populations did not arrive until late October, A droughty summer in Mason County caused corn production to suffer a 32% loss on the average yield. Compared to a normal 93 bushels per acre in 1963 the average dropped to about 65 bushels in 1964. The dry and mild weather continued into October to permit local farmers to have all their crops harvested and fields plowed before the ducks arrived. Thus, field feeding this fall was poor and afforded very little to attract flocks into this area, A poor food supply in Lake Chautauqua was also attributed to the deferred drawdown of the lake level for planting millet. Millet planted August 11 struggled through a cool period until early September and was killed by an early frost October 3« Wild food species were also inhibited in their growth by the late drawdown and cool weather. The nut grass group flowered and stopped grow ing at about 6 inches along the lake shore mud flats. In sloughs along the west dike in Liverpool Lake bottoms chufa was about 20 inches tall with root nuts up to one inch in diameter. These taller plants were much more product ive than the stunted shoreline plants* American lotus beds afforded most of the cover for Lake Chautauqua waterfowl* Early plans this year included grid spraying of the lotus to create openings and curtail spreading* However, an infestation of an unidentified larva in the stems appeared to be a natural control in late July when 80^ of the lotus beds appeared dead* By late August the lotus had recovered to the point that no signs of the earlier kill could be detected. Wood ducks roosted in the lotus and mallards, blacks, teal and widgeon used the beds for cover* An estimated 90% of the muskrats built their houses in the lotus beds* Upland game birds, consisting mostly of quail with some pheasants, seemed to fare well in the natural cover fringe surrounding lake Chautauqua* Intensive farming in the refuge vicinity emphasises the value of this narrow brush area. Bobwhite quail, grey squirrel, cottontails and songbirds used this cover throughout the year* There are 155 wood duck boxes mounted on soft maples in this narrow fringe of cover which were about 65% successful in 1964* All of the elms have been lost to dutch elm disease and only a few mast trees remain on the higher portions of the ridge along the east side of the lake. Oaks near the shoreline are practically non-existant* b* Cameron Unit Millet planting at the Cameron Unit was delayed due to wet weather. The first plowing was completed early in July but heavy rain showers caused Crow Creek to overflow its banks and flood the fields* It was necessary to disc the fields three times due to flooding before the millet was finally planted the first week of August* Along with the Japanese millet planted in the lower fields, proso millet and milo were planted on the higher elevations.

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