RAINWATER BASIN WETLAND MANAGEMENT DISTRICT

Kearney, Nebraska

ANNUAL NARRATIVE REPORT

2001

U.S. Department of the Interior Fish and Wildlife Service NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE SYSTEM REVIEW AND APPROVALS

Kearney, Nebraska

ANNUAL NARRATIVE REPORT

2001

!ZS Project Leader Date Refuge Supervisor Review Date

'2 l/e>2~ Regional Office Approval Date INTRODUCTION

Originally, the Rainwater Basin in south central Nebraska contained more than 3,900 wetland basins within a 17-county area. The Basin region covers 4,200 square miles of flat to gently rolling Peorial Loess Plains.

Wetland basins are generally large, shallow depressions with deep clay soils-creating an impervious water barrier. The name Rainwater Basin

i—1—L— - ^-Q comes from the basins' ability to go from dry to flooded conditions i i quickly-following heavy rainstorms and snow melts. Soils surrounding the basins are very fertile, consisting of heavy silt loams and silty clay. -1 Beneath these soils and basins lies the Ogallala Aquifer, which is the Raln\ watef Basln ^ source of water for the extensive amount of irrigated corn and soybeans. Agricultural and rural development has destroyed 90 percent of the original number of wetlands.

The Fish and Wildlife Service began acquiring wetlands in 1963. By 1966, 7,000 acres were acquired and a management office was established in Hastings, Nebraska. In 1976, the office was moved to its present location: Kearney, Nebraska.

The Rainwater Basin Wetland Management District (WMD) currently manages 63 tracts of land, 61 of which are Waterfowl Production Areas (WPA) totaling 23,059 acres. One of the remaining two areas is McMurtrey Wildlife Management Area that was transferred from the military. Its 1052 acres are closed to public use. The other tract is the Platte River National Wildlife Management Area (438 acres), this property is owned by the state of Wyoming and managed through a memorandum of understanding. WPAs are small isolated tracts of land scattered throughout the District. Most WPAs contain only one large wetland. All WPAs are managed as a grassland ecosystem. Wetland management is focused toward providing optimum waterfowl and shorebird habitats. The uplands are managed for a high diversity of native tall and mid-grass plant species. Thirty-nine FmHA conservation easements totaling 2903 acres are managed by this office as well.

Spring migration is the primary focus of the Rainwater Basin WMD. Each spring, about six million snow geese, one million Canada geese, 90 percent of the mid-continent white-fronted goose population, 5-7 million ducks, and one-half million Sandhill cranes use the Basin and Platte River. Habitat becomes very critical during this time of year. Extensive pumping and creative management are needed to maintain quality habitat for resting and staging. The huge concentration of birds, in a limited number of wetlands, annually pose a threat of avian cholera outbreak.

In addition to habitat management on refuge lands, our office spends considerable staff and funds to restore wetland habitat on refuge and privately owned lands. Often, new refuge areas have the wetland drained and the upland farmed. Cost of restoration in some cases meets or exceeds the purchase price of the property. During 1991 to 1997, budget cuts and departmental reorganization reduced station staff by 44 percent and budget by 18 percent. During that same time period, land acquisition increased 25 percent and easements by 467 percent. The effect was large expansion of invasive plants, including noxious weeds and volunteer trees. Since 1997, our station has worked to build partnerships with other agencies and organizations to restore wetlands and surrounding uplands. Many of the partnerships have become possible through the work of the Rainwater Basin Joint Venture.

Station Mission: To protect, restore and manage wetlands and prairie grassland habitat in support of the North American Waterfowl Management Plan; provide resting, nesting, feeding, and staging habitat for waterfowl and other migratory birds; protect endangered and threatened species and their habitats; restore the natural flora and fauna (as practical) for tall-grass prairie ecosystems; and increase public opportunities TABLE OF CONTENTS tor outdoor recreation and environmental education.

Station Goals: 1. Enhance wetland habitat for migratory birds. INTRODUCTION 2. Improve habitat for the propagation and protection of endangered and threatened species. 3. Protect wetlands through fee-title and easement acquisition, and coordination with other conservation A. HIGHLIGHTS 1

programs, protect wetlands from degradation through drainage, erosion, siltation, and farming B. CLIMATIC CONDITIONS 1

practices. & C. LAND ACQUISITION 7. Fee Title 2 4. Reestablish native flora and bio diversity of tall grass prairie ecosystems. 8. Easements 2 5. Expand the Rainwater Basin Joint Venture to maintain, enhance, and create new partnerships that 9. Other 2 further the goals of the station. 6. Provide opportunities for public participation in a wide range of outdoor recreation and interpretation D. PLANNING

activities. r 1. Master Plan 2 2. Management Plan 2 3. Public Participation 2 4. Compliance with Environ. & Cultural Resource Mandates 3 5. Research and Investigations 3 6. Other 5 E. ADMINISTRATION 1. Personnel 5 2. Youth Programs 6 3. Other Manpower Programs 6 4. Volunteer Program 6 5. Funding 7 6. Safety 8 7. Technical Assistance 9 8. Other 9 F. HABITAT MANAGEMENT 1. General 9 2. Wetlands 10 3. Forests 15 4. Cropland 15 5. Grasslands 17 6. Other Habitats 17 7. Grazing 17 8. Haying 18 9. Fire Management 19 10. Pest Control 21 11. Water Rights 25 12. Wilderness and Special Areas 25 13. WPA Easement Monitoring 25 G. WILDLIFE 1. Wildlife Diversity 26 2. Endangered and/or Threatened Species 26 3. Waterfowl 26 4. Marsh and Water Birds 28 5. Shorebirds, Gulls, Terns and Allied Species 29 6. Raptors 30 7. Other Migratory Birds 30 A. HIGHLIGHTS

8. Game Mammals 30 Rainwater Basin WMD continued its focus on three main areas: wetland restoration grass an 9. Marine Mammals 30 restoration and biological monitoring. Wetland restoration included the filling of a pit locat«i on Prairie 10. Other Resident Wildlife 30 Dog WPA. The pit has been in existence since we purchased the property in the mid 1960 s. It has a ways 11. Fisheries Resources 30 been so low on the priority list that it has never been addressed until this year The filling of the pit signif 12. Wildlife Propagation and Stocking 30 that we are beginning to get ahead on wetland restoration. The second wetland restoration project begun 13. Surplus Animal Disposal 30 in 2001 was the filling of the Vi mile concentration pit on Waco WPA. Natural Resources Conservation 14. Scientific Collections 30 Service d" the enginLing on the project. It required 33,000 cubic yards of dirt The fill material came 15. Animal Control 30 from the remaining portion of the wetland (the same area the original pit material was deposited). 16. Marking and Banding 30 17. Disease Prevention and Control 30 The Rainwater Basin Joint Venture assisted our office in wetland restoration by paying the costs for H. PUBLIC USE drilling a new well on Funk and purchasing three new engines to run wells. Many of our existing engines 1. General 30 are more than 20 years in age. See Section F.2. for more details. 2. Outdoor Classrooms - Students 31 3. Outdoor Classrooms - Teachers 31 Grassland restoration expanded greatly with the purchase of a combine and seed harvesting head to fit 4. Interpretive Foot Trails 31 the combine. The combine was purchased by Nebraska Game and Parks Commission and Pheasan s 5. Interpretive Tour Routes 31 Forever through a cooperative agreement. Under the agreement, they purchased the combine while our 6. Interpretive Exhibits/Demonstrations 31 station purchased a new seed head. Seed harvested was then shared by the three agencies. See Section F.5. 7. Other Interpretive Programs 32 for more details. 8. Hunting 32 9. Fishing 33 Biological monitoring received a real boost in the arm by the implementation of a Joint Venture 10. Trapping 33 Evaluation Study, being conducted by Loren Smith and staff from Texas Tech. The study will evaluate bird 11. Wildlife Observation 33 use of various wetlands and compare the existing conditions and past management history which caused the 12. Other Wildlife Oriented Recreation 33 wetlands to have their respective characteristics. In addition to this study, the CALMIT division o 13. Camping 33 Conservation and Survey, University of Nebraska-Lincoln has completed a $550,000 geographic 14. Picnicking 33 information system project that compiled multiple layers of watershed land features associated with each 15. Off-Road Vehicling 33 state and federal property in the Rainwater Basin. See Section D.5. for more details. 16. Other Non-Wildlife Oriented Recreation 33 17. Law Enforcement 33 The station was funded to hire a Prescribed Fire Specialist, a newly created position. Bruce Winter 18. Cooperating Associations 34 transferred from the Bureau of Land Management in Colorado in November. He immediately began 19. Concessions 34 working on writing new and updating existing burn plans. The station purchased its second Model 52 I. EQUIPMENT AND FACILITIES pumper engine. We also obtained a surplus 6X6 (2 'A ton) Kaiser Jeep from the military to hold a 1000 1. New Construction 34 gallon tank for use as a water tender. Our expanded fire program allowed us to have a record year for 2. Rehabilitation 34 prescribed burning. See Section F.9. for details. 3. Major Maintenance 34 4. Equipment Utilization and Replacement 35 Mindy Meade played a large role in putting together a $700,000 NAWCA grant application which was 5. Communications Systems 35 funded. The grant was for multi-agency projects including wetland acquisition and restoration. 6. Computer Systems 35 7. Energy Conservation 35 8. Other 35 R ri TMATTC CONDITIONS J. OTHER ITEMS Water conditions during spring migration were excellent compared to the previous year Winter snow 1. Cooperative Programs 35 conditions put snow cover on the landscape from November to mid-March. The cold winter (fourth coldest 2. Other Economic Uses 35 on record) and cold early spring kept wetlands frozen later than normal. Birds arrived about three weeks 3. Items of Interest 35 later than in the previous year. Extensive amounts of sheet water in crop land made it difficult for capturing 4. Credits 35 pintails for radio-tagging (See Bobby Cox's study below). The late spring also pushed back and shortened the time our office could burn.

Summer conditions were near normal to dry. September rains helped keep water in the eastern wetlands, but those in the West were dry by November. Fall rainfall was limited and required considerable

* D. PLANNING 2 D. PLANNING 3

pumping. Wetland basins like Harvard were completely dry and could be disked. The warm fall caused 5. Research and Investigations water to evaporate at nearly the same rate it was pumped. Several studies are being conducted in coordination with our office.

Watershed topography and water management. In 1997, the Bureau of Reclamation funded a 3-year C. LAND ACQUISITION GIS project ($550,000) digitizing wetland data associated with public lands. CALMIT at University of 1. Fee Title Nebraska-Lincoln completed the project and provided 5 5 CDs containing a multitude of spatial information. No land was purchased in 2001. Data include watershed boundaries, landuses with the boundary, sources of soil sedimentation, land ownerships, road names, and man-made structures that have altered wetland hydrology. Approximately 90 2. Easements watersheds were compiled. The complete data base is located on the internet at http://calmaps.unl.edu/rwb. Wetland easements are not purchased in the Basin. Our office is getting an increasing number of It contains an interactive map that makes more layers available to the user as he or she zooms in on a requests from landowners to alter or remove the FmHA easement from their property. This year, smaller area of land. negotiations were done with owners of property in Saunders County on the Thompson easement. Realty contracted with an appraiser to appraise the easement for future exchange. The property is totally crop land Late winter white-goose hunting season. The Service and NGPC continued its study of snow geese. with limited wildlife value. The easement, however, does protect the property from development. The study's goal is to evaluate the impact of hunting on 1) disturbing non-target species, 2) concentrating geese on already crowded wetland basins that are not open to hunting, and 3) shifting bird distribution from 3. Other hunted regions to closed regions. The first year allowed hunting in both zones (East and West districts). Land acquisition has really slowed for a number of reasons. Difficulties in getting all the necessary In 2001, light goose hunting was allowed only in the East. See Section G.3. for study results. components lined up for acquisition is the primary cause. For example, landowners interested have to wait until a realtor can schedule a visit to Nebraska. An appraisal then has to be done before an offer is made. Jeff started assessing habitat conditions from the air this year, once in the fall, and then weekly flights In addition, funds have to be found to purchase the area. By the time these items are completed, the during February and March. The 28 study areas for the Spring Ground Survey were observed during each landowner has lost interest or enrolled it with the Wetland Reserve Program. spring flight. Aircraft and pilot were rented from Kearney. The general flight pattern was to fly the Platter River upstream to Lexington, then south and back East across the RWB hitting all of the study sights, then The Joint Venture (JV) made arrangements with a local realtor to obtain a broker's opinion of value back to the Platte River by Grand Island, while heading back to Kearney. Other basin conditions were on lands the Joint Venture believes are valuable and the landowners wish to sell. Once the JV receives the recorded if they were flown over. Estimates from the air included percent ftill and percent vegetated. Aerial opinion of value, they contact the landowner about his interest to sell if an appraised value comes in at a photos of each study area or basin were taken and compared to DOQQs. This allowed the observer to value near the brokers opinion. If the landowner is agreeable, a full appraisal is contracted. The Nature digitize the actual flooded area within each study area with rather accurate results (+/- 3%). The Conservancy has agreed to purchase the property and then work toward transferring the ownership to the information will help determine the amount of habitat available on an annual basis. Service or Nebraska Game and Parks Commission(NGPC). This quickly speeds up the process. Ducks Unlimited (DU) is initiating a project (called a Revolving Land Account) of purchasing these Snow Goose neck-collar sightinas properties in place of the Nature Conservancy (TNC) and holding onto the properties for a few years before Canada Wildlife Service (CWS) has also begun to search for neck-collars on snow geese. Beginning a disposing of them to the Service or NGPC. During the time they own the property, they will raise funds couple of years ago, CWS places neck collars on 1000 birds at various locations in Canada. Neck collar to restore the wetland and upland. This approach also gives the JV the opportunity to purchase lands sighting data provides them with information on distribution and population levels. 1809 collars were read which they can use in trade for lands containing wetlands. this spring by various individuals within the Basin. 1381 were single sightings. 252 birds were seen and recorded more than once while in the Basin. Conflicting numbers came from CWS. They reported that between August 2000 and May 2001, 1463 collars read, 1170 were single sightings of a bird. The origin D. PLANNING of birds for the Nebraska sightings are as follows: 1. Master Plan A master plan for this station does not exist. Wrangle Is. Alaska W. C. La W. SE Baffin Total Arctic Arctic Perouse Hudson Hudson Is. Snow 2. Management Plan Bay Bay Bay Geese Nothing to report. Total # of birds banded 807 73 1166 3692 3893 3845 3891 4997 22364

3. Public Participation # birds seen in Nebraska 6 0 2 211 247 276 125 303 1170 Nothing to report % total (assuming no 0.7 0.2 5.7 6.3 7.2 3.2 6.1 5.2 mortality over the years) 4. Compliance with Environmental & Cultural Resource Mandates Nothing to report E. ADMINISTRATION 5 D. PLANNING 4

White-fronted goose population survey will be to determine bird use associated with grassland types and management. Insect populations will be Each spring, staff from Canada Wildlife Service spends a couple of weeks counting white-fronted geese. measured. It is believed that about 90 percent of the mid-continental population is located in RWB during spring migration. 6. Other Rainwater Basin Information System: The JV contracted with Ducks Unlimited to produce a GIS Joint Venture Evaluation Plan. A JV evaluation plan was completed with funding coming from program that will allow all land managers within the Rainwater Basin to enter management activities into NAWCA. Research will be conducted by Loren Smith and staff from Texas Tech. The objective of the a spatial database. The program ensures standardized entry of management data that can be compiled research is to evaluate bird use on basins-based on habitat conditions and the types of management across agencies. Mindy has been working with DU to do test runs of data associated with private lands. activities that were done in recent years. It is hoped that we will be able to evaluate the effects of haying, It is hoped that by 2002, activities in management on refuge lands will also be recorded in this system. grazing, burning, disking, and pumping on waterfowl use. A graduate student was hired by Smith is expected to be in the Basin beginning in February 2002. E. ADMINISTRATION Bird Movement within the RWB Region. Northern Prairie WRC (Bobby Cox) conducted a radio- 1. Personnel telemetry study on pintails this spring. Approximately 39 pintails were tagged. His crew had extreme Ten permanent employees administer the Wetland Management District and Private Land programs tor difficulty capturing birds because of the birds' late arrival and the abundance of sheet water on private the Rainwater Basin and Sandhills regions. Changes in personnel include: Marcelle Franke leaving the grounds. It kept the pintails well spread out. The study monitored the birds' daily activity while they are Service to obtain a Master's degree, and hiring Bruce Winter as the Prescribe Fire Specialist. This is a new in the Basin Region. The information will let us know the average length of stay and how much movement position at the station. Replacement for Marcelle is being done by Private Lands out of Grand Island. Our there is from basin to basin. Many of the birds stayed only a short period of time, so Bobby monitored their office has also worked closely with the Joint Venture and the Regional Office to hire an Evaluation movement north into Canada. After the first season, it was obvious that to get a better feel for how long Coordinator for the Rainwater Basin. This individual will be located in the Grand Island Office but will the birds stayed in the Basin, the birds needed to be captured and tagged in southern states. Cox has be supervised by this station. The Coordinator will be required to assess spatial data that is available and expanded his study. Birds will be banded in Texas and monitored throughout the Central Flyway. He will identify research and management needs throughout the whole region, not just refuge lands. The position skip research in the Basin in 2002 and begin again in 2003. is expected to be filled in early spring, 2002.

Water Contamination Associated with Lar&e Livestock Confinements. Christina Cravetts has expanded past work done by Karen Nelson, Ecological Services on assessing the impacts of contaminates leaving a large hog confinement operation immediately northwest of McMurtrey WPA. Her work will address the direct effect of waste water on waterfowl. Two control areas will be located on refuge lands. Confined waterfowl will be held in an area on McMurtrey. A second pen will be set up on Harvard.

Vegetative mappina Jeff has modified a sampling technique developed by Todd Grant and Elizabeth Madden. This sampling technique now can be used in the RWB to monitor grass stands and will indicate gradual shifts in plant diversity.

Vegetation mapping efforts were begun this year. WPAs will be mapped to the formation level using the National Vegetation Mapping Standards. Later efforts will map vegetation communities to the alliance and association levels.

Breeding bird and mammalian predator populations in Rainwater Basin wetlands: can landscape factors predict abundance, productivity, and movement dynamics? Larkin Powell, School of Natural Resource Sciences, UNL is developing this research study. The four objectives of the study are: 1. Estimate densities Top row, 1 to r; Brice Krohn, Jesse Bolli, Jeff Drahota, Tom Koerner. of the breeding bird community, 2. Determine productivity of the breeding bird community, 3. Document Bottom row, 1 to r; Gene Mack, Heath Packett, Brad Krohn, Rusty movement rates of birds and mammals between wetlands, and 4. Relate the above to landscape-level Lammert, Marcelle Franke, Sue Huber, Steve Karel. Absent: Mindy characteristics of the wetlands. Meade, Bruce Winter and Wyatt Skelton.

Upland Grassland Bird Study. Dr. Craig Davis, Oklahoma State University and his staff will be conducting a grassland bird study using various WPAs, as well as, state areas. The purpose of the study E. ADMINISTRATION 6 E. ADMINISTRATION 7

Permanent full-time positions: Temporary positions include: RAINWATER BASIN WETLAND MANAGEMENT DISTRICT Jeff Drahota Wildlife Biologist Heath Packett Range Technician Marcel le Francke Biological Technician Jesse Bolli Range Technician (Private Lands) Wyatt Skelton Range Technician Susann Huber Administrative Assistant Brice Krohn Range Technician Steve Karel Biological Technician Tom Koerner Deputy Refuge Manager Brad Krohn Biological Technician Rusty Lammert Maintenance Worker Gene Mack Project Leader Mindy Meade Wildlife Biologist (Private Lands) Bruce Winter Prescribe Fire Specialist

The organizational chart for the station is shown on the following page.

2. Youth Programs No youth program exists at the station.

3. Other Manpower Programs Nothing to report

4. Volunteer Program During 2001, numerous volunteers assisted the Rainwater Basin WMD. Major projects included neck collar reading, waterfowl surveys, seed harvest, and vegetative monitoring.

Following is a list of volunteers who made significant contributions during 2001:

VOLUNTEER LOCATION PROJECTS Harold Cayouette Kearney, NE rebuilt our computer network system

Matt, Jackie and Zack all participated in the Dan Spencer Wisconsin 103 hours spent searching for neck Refuge Management Internship program. This collars (155 total) program is designed to provide participants with the Mike and Constance Choteau, Montana 800 hours searching for neck collars opportunity to gain training and experience in refuge Schwitters (784 total) management in order to help further their career goals. Participants are required to have completed Paul Haupt New York, New York 120 hours searching for neck collars course work at least to the Junior level leading to a degree in wildlife management, range management, or Matt Johns, Intern Rockford, Illinois surveys, prescribed fire, general related field. The average length of a stay was three management months. Interns Matt Johns and Zack Hurst constructing Jackie Finck, Intern Plymouth, Minnesota surveys, prescribed fire, general brochure boxes for kiosks. management 5. Funding Zack Hurst, Intern Chelan, Washington surveys, prescribed fire, general Total funding in FY2001 was $953,737. About 13 percent of the budget is non-FWS money to help management tifi+Vi 11rot IonA onrl rrt-acclcmH manafff mfnt anrt rectnratinn An addition 1 01 ^ A ^ c E. ADMINISTRATION 8 F. HABITAT MANAGEMENT 9

7. Technical Assistance FY 2001 Funding Two PTEs are dedicated to working with private landowners to restore wetlands and upland habitat. The focus of the work in the District is on properties immediately adjacent to WPAs or prominent wetland

Contributed Funds (0.31%) areas. 9263-0000 Payroll (3.20%) 9251-0000 Fire Supplies (2.30%)— 7201-0408 M. Haven Fund (0.58%) Marcelle spent the first half of the year focusing her attention on projects in the Sandhills. Projects 7201-0135 DU Funds (1.04%)- 7201-0109 NGPC Funds (3.30%) completed included planned grazing systems on entire ranches and along riparian areas. She also helped 1121-06HR Sandhill Private Lands (10.07%) 5840-0000 RWBJV Funds (0.40%) with the Service's waterfowl counts in the Quebec area for the second year in a row. In June, Marcelle 2111-D68W Water Control Items (3.67%) 1231-60MG Snow Goose Agreement (5.24%) 2111-D68V Parking Lot Program (2.31%) resigned and moved to New Mexico to obtain a Master's Degree. 2111-D68U John Deere Tractor (3.67%) 1261 WL Biol. RONS (7.44%) 1261-0000 Law Enforcement (0.04%) 1261-6003 Volunteers (0.09%) Mindy began her second year working with landowners within the Rainwater Basin to increase or 1971-0298 BOR (8.12%) 1261-6C20 Lead Shot Contam. (3.15%) improve wetland habitat. Projects included wetland restorations and temporary wetland projects know as seasonal habitat improvement projects. 1262-B6RB Motor Vehicle (2.94%)

1262-A6RB Maintenance (9.78%) Gene worked with the Sandhills Task Force and private landowners to accomplish conservation projects within the Sandhills. During the year 2001, more than 45,000 acres of grassland, wetlands and riparian 1261-0&M General Funds (32.36%) habitat were enhanced. Total expenditure for projects was approximately $150,000.

Other technical assistance included giving presentations to various land management agencies and personnel on wetland management practices, conservation funding sources, and conservation programs. Jeff and Tom gave presentations to a group of conservation agency staff and landowners at the annual Rainwater Basin Workshop held in Hastings. Fish and Wildlife Program within the Sandhills and Rainwater Basin. Non-refuge funded projects are listed below. 8. Other • The Sandhills and Rainwater Basin Private Lands Program is funded to pay salaries for portions of Brad helped Boys Scouts win 2.25 staff people. their wildlife badges by presenting • NGPC provided funding for fall water pumping and for disking and shredding marsh vegetation within a wildlife program to several select WPAs for fall hunting. troops as well as helping them • Bureau of Reclamation provided nearly $77,000 ($35,000 was a carry-over from FY2000) for wetland build and install bluebird houses enhancement on lands owned by the Service. Much of this was used to fill in concentration pits on on WPAs. Tom participated in a Waco and Prairie Dog WPAs. job fair at University ofNebraska, • Migratory Bird Office provided $50,000 to Lincoln, as well as, hosting a one- conduct research on bird distribution and late- day outdoor education workshop. winter snow goose hunting. About 2/3 of the funds was provided to NGPC for their efforts in the research. See section D.5. for details. HABITAT MANAGEMENT Group of scout preparing to install bluebird houses on Funk WPA. 1. General Salaries attribute to about 51 percent of One of the primary goals for expenditures. Pumping cost was about 6 percent of our land management is to restore wetlands to a more natural hydrology and to convert crop land to high the budget. Because of the extensive expanse of the diversity grassland environments. Approximately one-fourth of the WPAs have some water pumping District, about 7 percent of our budget is vehicle capabilities. Our ability to pump exceeds the funding and staffing available. Wetland management actions and fuel costs. More than 110,000 miles are are being done to remove or limit dense stands of cattail and bulrush. Disking, burning, and grazing are traveled annually. used to reach those goals. We have observed on many of our wetlands that the lack of disturbance has caused a thick build up (4-8 inches) of organic matter which absorbs quite a bit of runoff before any surface 6. Safety water is available for waterfowl. Wetlands that have been heavily grazed or disked have seen drastic Staff safety meetings were held on a frequent Safety demonstration on how to load an ATV on a declines in organic buildups. The decrease in organic matter, in addition to the amount of vegetation, has basis. pickup. Since this photo, new trailers have been purchased to transport ATVs. made more habitat available with less pumping. As expected, vegetation diversity and amount of bird use are increasing on managed wetlands. F. HABITAT MANAGEMENT 10 F. HABITAT MANAGEMENT 11

2. Wetlands Pumping Four wetland basins have water contracts that were attached to the deed when the land was purchased. Spring and fall pumping of wetland basins is the primary wetland management practice occurring on The contracts are held with Central Nebraska Public Power and Irrigation District (Central). The contract the District. Table F.1. lists the pumping activity for FY 2001. requires the property owner to pay annual water use payments (regardless if you use the water or not). The contracts can be cancelled; but notice to cancel has to be done ten years prior to it taking effect. Our total Table F. 1. Waterfowl Production Area wel s pumped in 2001. water contract bill was more than $14,000! Table F.2. shows water usage associated with these contracts. WPA TYPE DATE ON DATE ACRE- TOTAL COST OFF FEET COST /ACRE Springer Electric 01/24/01 01/29/01 N/A $164 N/A Table F.2. Irrigation Water Contracted from CPPNID Harvard-Homberg Electric 01/24/01 01/29/01 25.45 $124 $4.87 Contract Acre-feet Harvard-Smith Electric 01/24/01 01/29/01 19.75 $169 $8.56 WPA Unit acres Available Delivered Electric 01/24/01 01/29/01 N/A $302 N/A Harvard-Knudson Funk NE Unit #6170102 39 58.5 0 McMurtrey-West Electric 01/24/01 01/29/01 25.22 $256 $10.15 Funk Peterson Unit #6171001 177 265.5 0 McMurtrey-East Electric 01/24/01 01/29/01 N/A $289 N/A Funk NW #6171006 49 73.5 5.15 Funk Diesel 01/24/01 01/28/01 N/A N/A Funk Mallard Unit #6171101 66 99 0 Eckhardt Electric 01/24/01 01/29/01 12.87 $102 $7.93 Funk -S #6171605 80 120 0 Mallard Haven-East Electric 01/24/01 01/29/01 23.86 $447 $18.74 Funk Teal #6171606 57 85.5 0 Mallard Haven-West Electric 01/24/01 01/29/01 17.52 $230 $13.12 702 5.15 Jensen Diesel 01/24/01 01/29/01 N/A $269 N/A Funk Total 468 Gleason-Diesel Diesel 01/24/01 01/29/01 24.78 $821 $33.13 Gleason-N. Gas N. GAS 01/25/01 01/29/01 N/A $365 N/A Linder #7202503 74 111 109.35 Lindau Diesel 01/24/01 01/29/01 N/A $648 N/A Massie-Diesel Diesel 02/26/01 03/02/01 11.46 $255 $22.25 Victor Lakes #7210105 10 15 9.51 Prairie Dog-West Diesel 02/25/01 03/02/01 14.94 $864 $57.82 Victor Lakes #7211203 30 45 28.49 McMurtrey-West Electric 02/25/01 03/02/01 23.45 $241 $10.28 Victor Lakes Total 40 60 38.00 McMurtrey-East Electric 02/25/01 03/02/01 N/A $265 N/A Mallard Haven-East Electric 02/25/01 03/02/01 21.88 $294 $13.43 As shown in Table F. 2. we requested only a fraction Mallard Haven-West Electric 02/25/01 02/27/01 2184.64 $403 $0.18 of the amount of water available. Funk Diesel 02/25/01 03/02/01 N/A $956 N/A Funk -Mallard(NEW) Diesel 09/17/01 09/28/01 76.69 $563 $7.34 It is our goal to phase out the use of canal water. The Atlanta Diesel 09/17/01 10/06/01 57.78 $1,782 $30.84 delivery rate from the irrigation canals is low volume over Prairie dog-East Diesel 09/17/01 09/18/01 2.25 $109 $48.39 a long period time. So, in order to use all we have Clark Diesel 09/17/01 10/01/01 N/A $730 N/A contract for, delivery would have to begin about the same Lindau Diesel 09/17/01 10/06/01 26.57 $1,125 $42.34 time farmers want water-June. Water delivered in June Gleason-Diesel Diesel 09/17/01 10/05/01 N/A $2,258 N/A and July evaporates long before fall migration season. Gleason-N. Gas N.Gas 09/17/01 10/05/01 20.91 $860 $41.12 Further, the Irrigation District shuts down their water Krause Electric 09/21/01 10/06/01 58.82 $1,069 $18.17 supply about the time we want it for Wilkens N.Gas 09/19/01 10/06/01 N/A $814 N/A migration-September. Water delivered by the canals has Springer Electric 09/19/01 10/06/01 N/A $543 N/A the potential to carry purple loosestrife into the wetland Hultine (454 portable) N.Gas 09/26/01 10/06/01 32.03 $1,042 $32.53 basins. We have decided not to request any future water Youngson Diesel 09/17/01 10/03/01 67.39 $2,066 $30.66 unless absolutely necessary for waterfowl management. 0ne 0( tw0 new systcms msta||ed on Kunk WPA. Jensen Diesel 09/17/01 10/03/01 87.56 $2,358 $26.93 Water contracts on Cottonwood were cancelled in 2000. Massie-diesel Diesel 09/18/01 10/06/01 N/A $1,275 N/A The water contract on Cottonwood WPA was terminated Eckhardt Electric 09/18/01 10/04/01 40.99 $348 $8.49 after only one year's notice because Central was able to find an irrigator who was willing to assume the Hansen Electric 09/18/01 09/28/01 28.39 $335 $11.80 contract. This is not the case for the three remaining wetland basins. Landowners in proximity to these three Harvard-Smith-S.E. Electric 09/18/01 10/06/01 57.73 $562 $9.73 basins have switched to groundwater because of costs. So, Central cannot find an irrigator who is willing to Harvard-Holmberg-N.E. Electric 09/19/01 10/06/01 1756.56 $555 $0.32 assume any of the remaining contracts. Harvard-Knudson-S.W. Electric 09/20/01 10/03/01 N/A $900 N/A Massie-Electric Electric 09/20/01 10/06/01 65.09 $496 $7.62 Funk-Peterson Diesel 11/26/01 12/07/01 N/A $1,209 N/A F. HABITAT MANAGEMENT 12 F. HABITAT MANAGEMENT 13

To compensate for the decline in irrigation water, two wells were developed on Funk. One was simply a area was burned in early September after it was disked. The prescribed burn consumed almost 100% of the matter of installing an engine and fuel tank to an existing well. About 800 feet of underground pipeline was above ground vegetation including tubers, a significant amount of the organic matter in the soil surface, and also installed to deliver water to the Mallard Unit on Funk. The second well was a new well, drilled near the raised temperatures in the top 6 inches to 200 degrees Fahrenheit for greater than Vi hour. The area to the southwest corner of Funk. It was located where three moist soil units bordered each other so water from one south of the ring dike and inside the ring dike were pumped in October to a depth of 18 inches. well could be delivered to any or all three units. Both wells had new Isuzu engines and tanks installed. Well capacities on both wells are approximately 1500 g.p.m. Cost of the project was paid for by the Rainwater The basin was pumped in the spring of 2000 and tremendous snow goose use was reported. More than Basin Joint Venture through a grant from the Nebraska Environmental Trust. 40,000 snow geese were roosting on the site for over a month. As mud flats were exposed in early summer, some of the largest concentrations of shorebirds ever recorded in Nebraska were documented at the site. By Disking late June the basin was dry and tremendous growth of pigweed was observed. Several mid summer rains 597 acres of wetlands were disked during the year using a JD 8400T and the Wishek disk. We are provided ideal conditions for annual smartweed and nearly the entire east half of the basin grew up with a heavy consistently observing immediate response by waterfowl to wetland areas that are disked. Typically, disked stand of annual smartweed. In order to facilitate snow goose use and subsequent grazing pressure on the river areas will be reflooded the following fall and spring. On areas disked in past years, bulrush and reed bulrush that remained, Heath Packett disked approximately 75% of the east half of the basin in early October canarygrass decreased while smartweeds, sedges, and annuals filled in. We also saw a reduction in the amount 2000. of water that had to be pumped to provide habitat for waterfowl. Snow geese dominate these open areas, but use by pintails, white-fronted geese and mallards can be impressive at times. In 2001, the basin again dried out and heavy growth of river bulrush was found. The strips disked on the east half of the basin in 2000 had significantly less river bulrush growth than the undisked strips. Smartweed, Funk WPA (Redhead Unit) - 28 acres disked burreed, and plantain were abundant in the 2000 disked strips. Instructions given to the tractor operator were Hot, dry, windy conditions dried much of Funk up by late July 2001. The Redhead Unit was dry for the to disk about 40% of all of the unit, leaving any open pockets and strips of desirable plants undisturbed if first time in many years. Disking began on the Redhead Unit on 08/06/01. The heavy cattail portions were possible. Approximately 138 acres were disked 8/22-26/2001. This unit will be closed for hunting during the disked with the reed canary grass left undisked. We attempted to follow up the disking with a prescribed burn. late snow goose season in 2002. The intent was to make the unit as attractive to ducks and dark geese as However, rains prevented us from being able to put in an adequate fire line. possible.

Funk WPA (Mallard Unit) - 18 acres disked Freeman Lakes WPA - 60 acres disked The northeast portion of the unit dried out by early July and was disked followed by a burn at the end of In early October, Freeman Lakes dried up enough to disk. A contractor was hired (paid by RWBJV) to August. The portion not disked had been disked the previous summer and contained scattered pockets of disk all of the wetland. Hartman Construction from Seward completed the disking on 10/20/2001 for $1,600. annual plants. Bird use is expected to be intense with the installation of a new well engine. Grazing the wetland all summer significantly improved the ability to complete the disking. Plans are underway to fill in the large pit on the northeast portion of the basin. If possible, we plan to contract this project out and Funk WPA (Peterson Unit) - 60 acres disked complete it in 2002. The disked area was located in front of the disabled viewing blind. Following the disking, the area was burned in late August. Later that Fall, a contractor was hired, with NGPC funds, to excavate six to 12 inches Tamora WPA - 53 acres disked of silt to ensure open water in future years. Waste soil was used to expand the parking lot and build up the As part of the restoration on Tamora WPA, additional pit filling, dike removal, fencing, and disking were adjoining dike. The balance of the soil was spread out on the adjacent upland. completed in 2001. Approximately 53 acres of river bulrush south of the road were deep disked the first week of October by Hartman Construction. In addition, 5,000 cu yds. of soil were moved from the wetland to fill Harvard WPA - 240 acres disked a large pit on the north side of the property. A large dike south of the road was also removed to facilitate A lead shot abatement study found large amounts of lead shot on this unit. Plans were in place to conduct fencing of the entire property. All of this will help to restore the hydrology to this basin. deep disking to remedy the situation. The basin dried up by early July. Rourk Erickson (cooperator) moved his cattle in by late July and grazed the wetland until the day before we began disking. The grazing removed Restoration nearly all of the vegetation and made the disking go very smoothly. Rain combined with irrigation runoff kept Prairie Dog pit filled the very northeast portion of the basin too damp to disk. Two portions of the disked area were disked twice Restoration work began in 1999 with the rebuilding of a dike on the west end of the wetland-followed by and will be re-sampled to determine if disking a second time is beneficial or detrimental for moving the lead burning and disking of dense stands of reed canarygrass. A heavy summer rain filled the wetland and removed shot deeper into the soil profile. more than 90 percent of the canarygrass. Smartweed replaced the canarygrass. In 2001, we continued restoration by filling a pit requiring approximate 23,000 cubic yards of fill. The fill material came from Massie WPA - 138 acres disked scraping 6-8 inches of soil off the wetland bottom immediately east of the pit. Plans are to replace the worn In 1999, approximately 50% of the wetland basin was disked by the USFWS with the industrial disk and out well engine (2002) which pumps that portion of the wetland. JD8400 in mid August. It totaled approximately 254 acres in three areas. The area south of the ring dike (50 acres) was composed of reed canary grass, smartweed, and other weedy annuals. The area inside the ring dike Waco pit filled (64 acres) had been disked in the fall of 1997 but was a monotypic stand of river bullrush. The east half of The wetland named Waco WPA is dissected down the middle with NGPC owning the west half and the the basin (140 acres) was a dense stand of river bulrush with an organic layer more than 12 inches deep. This Service owning the right. Our portion of the wetland contained a large concentration pit which held about F. HABITAT MANAGEMENT 14 F. HABITAT MANAGEMENT 15

33,000 cubic yards of water before any water would spread out over the Macon Lakes remaining wetland. The pit was Benson's Tree Service in Hildreth was contracted approximately seven feet deep and with to cut, treat stumps, and stack all of the trees east about V2 mile long. The surrounding of the Highway beginning in July 2001. Kevin Benson wetland was choked with reed was able to give the lowest bid because he was able to canarygrass. In 1998, bothNGPC and salvage much of the ash and other wood for firewood. our office began intensive grazing to This meant, however, that it took him six months to reduce the canarygrass. One local complete. This long time frame worked well with our citizen began voicing complaints about plans as we wanted to cut, stack and bum all of the trees our "anti-wildlife" management over a 5-year period. Our plans are to issue other small practices. A meeting was held with the contracts to remove a portion of the trees each year until individual and NGPC began planning finished. We received a couple of complaints about tree a restoration of their half of the cutting on Macon Lakes. One came from the local NRD wetland. Heavy silt deposits on their and the second from a neighbor near the wetland. The half made it difficult to remove the neighbor complained in the form of a letter. An canarygrass. Their restoration plan Bird use in spring of 2001 after a 2000 restoration on Pintail Unit at explanation was sent to them and no future comments Jones WPA in 2001 after tree removal in Fall 2000 included removing up to 12 inches of Funk WPA. were received. silt. NGPC requested permission to place their spoil in the Service's pit. Jensen and Youngson That request was denied because the soil originally removed from the pit was deposited in the wetland area Plans are being made to remove all remaining trees from Jensen and Youngson WPAs in 2002. Jensen surrounding the pit. Restoration of the Service's side would require putting that soil back into the pit. has a dense stand of volunteer trees in a hydric soil, in an old homesite, and scattered throughout the uplands.

NGPC with the help of NRCS developed a new plan of placing their spoil on the county road. In addition, 3. Forests NGPC offered to pay a portion of the cost for the Service to restore their portion. Several meetings were held, As a grassland ecosystem, our station does not manage for trees or forests. including one with the surrounding landowners and with three York County Commissioners. The Commissioners' approval was needed to build up the county road. They were supportive of that proposal but 4. Croplands two Commissioners tried to stop any action to fill the pit. They expressed concern about the loss of fishing Croplands under District management are only temporary. Each year, a portion of crop land is reseeded opportunities in the pit. During hot summer months, the water depth in the pit would drop to about 4-5 feet to native grasses and plants. Our goal is to have no refuge lands cropped. Tom and Brad took the lead on this at best. One Commissioner tried to drum up support and had a new reporter write an article about it. Not one successful program. Seed sources on various WPAs were identified. Seed harvest was done primarily with response was heard from the public. Approval was finally given. The Bureau of Reclamation offered to fund a Massey Ferguson 8510 combine. The combine was purchased by NGPC, Pheasants Forever, and RWBJV the Service's portion of the restoration; approximately $42,000. It was both NGPC and our wishes to have through a cooperative agreement. As part the same contractor do both sides at the same time. Ducks Unlimited offered to provide their services to finish of the agreement, we purchased the special the engineering and hire a contractor to do the entire project. Hartmann Construction from the Seward area rice head for the combine and assumed full was hired. The project took about six weeks and was finished in late November. use and maintenance of the combine. NGPC and PF, in turn, received a portion of Peterson Unit, Funk WPA the seed harvested. Small patches and less A contractor was hired to clean silt from around the blind. Repeated rains hampered completion of the common plants were harvested using a project. However, about 2 acres around the area were opened up. Spoil was used to increase the parking lot portable seed stripper or by hand picking. size and repair adjoining dike. We plan to make the parking lot accessible to school buses and possibly Total seed harvest is expected to be construct an observation tower. approximately 15,000 pounds.

T ree Removal Tree removal has increased over the past years. We have seen a change in attitude by both the public and Nebraska Game and Parks Commission. In the mid-1990,s, NGPC actively discouraged and opposed the Service's program. A meeting in 1996 with NGPC resulted in an agreement that select shelterbelts would be protected for an eight-year period, ending in 2004. Currently, NGPC is more supportive of tree removal and has helped fund some tree cutting within our wetlands. Seed harvesting combine purchased through a partnership effort. F. HABITAT MANAGEMENT 16 F. HABITAT MANAGEMENT 17

Seeding completed in 2001 is listed below. The seed mixes were specially mixed to match specific geographic and range site areas. 5. Grasslands Acres Seed Mix Location Date Grassland management involved grazing, resting and prescribed fire. To a limited amount, haying was Brauning WPA 03/07/01 50 East used. Reseeding was primarily done during winter months when a light covering of snow exists on the uplands. Macon Lakes WPA 04/04/01 28 West Most of the crop land was farmed using Roundup-ready soybeans. This prepared the ground by making the surface relatively smooth and weed-free. Local seed was collected from refuge lands, milled, mixed and 04/10/01 35 West Quadhammer WPA planted. Refer to the Sections F.7., F.8., and F.9. for details on management. Hannon WPA 04/19/01 400 Hannon Funk WPA 05/14/01 40 Loess mixed-grass prairie 6. Other Habitats Cottonwood WPA 04/24/01 40 West There is nothing to report. Cottonwood WPA 05/15/01 40 Loess mixed grass prairie 05/14/01 40 West Linder WPA 7. Grazing Linder WPA 05/14/01 20 Wet meadow Grazing is one of the primary management tools used to create more open water for waterfowl migration. Kenesaw WPA 05/16/01 40 East The grazing strategy used differs between wetlands and uplands. To address each habitat type, temporary electric fences are built by the grazing cooperator to keep the livestock in the specific area being managed. Kenesaw WPA 05/16/01 20 Wet meadow PRNWMA 05/21/01 20 West Wetlands choked with cattail, river bulrush, and reed canary grass are often grazed for long periods of Total 783 time and with large numbers of livestock to create open pockets for ducks during spring and fall migration. The results are: more open water, increase of preferred plant species, decrease of undesirable The following table lists old food plots or disturbed sites that were seeded with the Grass Mix or species, and reduction of organic layers. Our goal is else existing warm season grass stands that had a diverse "Interseed" mix broadcast onto the to provide optimum spring migratory habitat seven out of ten years. Wetlands that are heavily grazed Location Acres Seed Mix show a positive response by waterfowl during spring Clark WPA 10 Grass and fall migration. In some cases, a wetland can go from only a few birds to thousands after only one Clark WPA 50 Interseed grazing treatment. The amount of water needed to Lange WPA 10 Grass provide suitable habitat is significantly reduced. Lange WPA 50 Interseed Upland grazing is done to encourage warm season grasses. Areas with dense stands of brome and Linder WPA 60 Grass Kentucky bluegrass are grazed harder, earlier, and Linder WPA 50 Interseed more frequently. All this encourages native warm Jones WPA 40 Grass season plants. Intense livestock grazing of reed canarygrass is used to Jones WPA 50 Interseed reduce the monotypic stand and increase aquatic plant diversity. Funk WPA 5 Dike Our goal is to repair or install permanent perimeter fences around prominent WPAs. The Funk WPA 50 Switchgrass perimeter fence will reduce the threat of livestock escaping into adjacent cornfields. In most instances, single Harvard WPA 5 Dike strand electric fences is the only barrier. Peterson WPA 60 Grass Youngson WPA 5 Grass Although grazing fees have increased, compensation for moving herd, installing and removing temporary Smith WPA 10 Grass fences, and hauling water allows for low grazing fees. See Table F.3. for total acres grazed. Hannon WPA 100 Hannon (floodplain) Total 555 F. HABITAT MANAGEMENT 18 F. HABITAT MANAGEMENT 19

Table F.3. Total acres and amount grazed on specific WPAs in 2001. Haying occurred after July 15 to reduce injury to nesting birds. Unless the area is being hayed for a firebreak, it is generally hayed once every three to four years. In 2001, approximately 600 acres were hayed. AUMs Grazed Waterfowl Production Area Several large tracts with small trees and several large tracts with noxious weed were hayed. Haying allowed Acres us to more effectively apply herbicides. All other haying was done to create firebreaks in front of windbreaks TOTALS 9088 7170 to facilitate future prescribed burning. Atalanta 417 480 Brauning 60 30 9. Fire Management 108 300 Clark Twenty-five prescribed bums were conducted; burning 4,228 acres. Cottonwood 480 320 Cool, wet spring conditions hampered our burning effort. Table F.4. County Line 320 160 identifies areas burned. To help accelerate our burning program, an S- Eckhardt 82 80 130/190 course was held in Kearney. Participants included Service staff Freeman Lakes 195 100 from other refuges, state and NGO staff, and local volunteers. Todd Schmidt assisted in instructing the course. Most burns occur during the Gleason 180 240 months of March and April. Upland bums at this time set back invading Hannon 291 400 cool season plants, such as smooth brome and Kentucky bluegrass. We Hansen 360 200 are also now conducting some summer bums in wetlands during the Harvard 679 500 month of August. Usually the site is disked first, the disked vegetation is Heron 123 100 allowed to cure, and then while the surrounding vegetation is still green the site is safely burned. In 2001, 26 bums were done by staff; 25 on Hultine 1186 640 refuge lands and one on nearby land owned by the Audubon Society. Jensen 154 160 Bruce Winter was hired as the station's first Prescribed Fire Specialist. Burning wetlands in the spring Johnson 480 260 He entered on duty in November. Krause 650 460 Lindau 120 80 Table F4 lists refuge areas burned. Lange 97 80 Linder 160 160 Macon Lakes 179 160 Besides being beneficial to native grassland plants, there are three primary objectives of our prescribed burning: 1) Control the spread of cool season exotics, 2) Control the spread of volunteer woody plants, 3) Reduce the Mallard Haven 650 320 amount of emergent wetland vegetation. Fire, used in conjunction with disking (in wetlands), resulted in McMurtrey 640 640 positive changes in wetland vegetation and use by waterfowl. Morphy 80 60 Those basins that did not have a chance to re-vegetate showed Peterson 180 80 high use by snow geese and shorebirds, as the water receded. Prairie Dog 415 400 Wetlands that did re-vegetate, had a mosaic pattern that included annual plants. Quadhammer 166 160 Sinniniger 144 140 Tom and Brad did an excellent job of rounding up crews to help with the burns. Fire crews assisted with burns from Texas Tamora 100 160 and Kansas. A second fire pumper unit was purchased and Waco 200 140 equipped by the station. Funding was also provided to build up Youngson 192 160 our fire cache.

Just one stack of bum plans that needed signatures 8. Haying Most of the haying was conducted on uplands in tall- and mid-grass prairie with a limited amount in wetland areas. Haying was used to kill invading tree seedlings, remove heavy thatch layers, and create fire breaks for future planned prescribed burns. F. HABITAT MANAGEMENT 20 F. HABITAT MANAGEMENT 21

Table F4. 2001 Prescribed burns on Waterfowl Production Areas, Kearney, Nebraska 10. Pest Control Funk Mallard South 186 3/26 Weed control efforts within the Management District appear to be improving each year. Improved record Johnson East 160 3/27 keeping and mapping, committed staff, and the willingness to experiment and do more of what works and less of what doesn't, have all contributed to this. Nearly all weed infestations are now small and isolated and Verona Entire area 160 3/28 eradication on many sites has occurred or is within reach. The number of weed complaints may be a good way Mallard Haven West 80 4/02 to judge the weed control program. In 2001, only a couple of complaints were received. Phelps County Weed Krause Entire area 513 4/09 Supervisor arranged a meeting between our office, County Weed Board and the State Weed Supervisor. Tom gave an excellent presentation of what we have done in the past and are currently doing to reduce weeds in their Ritterbush 80 4/09 county. The meeting lasted for about V2 hour and ended with the Board complimenting our efforts. Prairie Dog East 243 4/09 Funk Mallard North 100 4/09 We have implemented an educational program that the staff participates in as well. One of the staff Green Acres 63 4/09 meetings, just prior to a weed control season, is dedicated to safety and use of herbicides and spraying Gleason North 160 4/12 equipment. We go over personal protective equipment, how to transport, mix, and store herbicides, how to Clark North 77 4/12 record areas sprayed, etc. We also have a meeting using identification guides and herbarium mounts on identification of noxious weeds and their look-a-likes. This has resulted in improved use of herbicides and early Hannon Riley 297 4/13 detection of noxious weed infestations. In addition to conducting a training session, weed patches are mapped Funk South 470 4/17 on an annual basis to help new employees located areas that need to be inspected and treated. It is our goal Victor Lake South 160 4/17 to have these areas mapped into GIS in the near future.

Smith Southeast 74 4-24 Musk thistle (Carduus nutans) is the most abundant noxious weed controlled in the District. Brad Krohn, Jensen East 280 4-20 Heath Packett, Jesse Bolli, Brice Krohn, and Tom Koerner spent approximately four weeks beginning May 15th Smith Northeast 104 4-24 making at least one pass over each WPA that did not have a grazing or haying cooperator. A second pass was Johnson Northwest 314 4-25 made in mid- June that also included a quick check on some units with cooperators and a third pass was made Clark South 320 4-25 on the worst areas in late June. Youngson Entire 160 4-26 Jones 1 4-27 In mid June, Canada thistle became visible and patches were sprayed when encountered. With the Victor Lakes North 38 4-27 exception of Funk WPA and Johnson WPA's, Canada thistle populations throughout the WMD are small and isolated. Most patches are 30 feet in diameter or less. Canada thistle patches were sprayed in June with Curtail Funk Peterson 20 8-31 and in a few cases with 2-4D. Patches were re-sprayed at least twice through the summer with Curtail. 2-4D Funk Mallard 40 8-31 and Curtail treatment during the growing season appears to do little for long term control. After treatment, the Total Number = 25 4228 plants appeared dead or severely injured, only to show up appearing very healthy several weeks after treatment. Fall treatment with Curtail appears to be more successful for long term control. The application window is mid-September to mid-October, before Canada thistle quits growing for the season. Treatment with Roundup appears to be the best long-term control observed in the last two years.

Funk WPA has been the most aggressively managed for Canada thistle control in 2001. Nine fields, broken out and farmed with Roundup-ready soybeans (beginning in 1999) were again farmed. The cooperator reported that on the worst fields, three roundup applications were made throughout the season. Canada thistle was significantly reduced on those sites. The station saved about $20,000 in pesticide by having the fields farmed. One of the nine fields will be re-seeded to native warm season grasses.

Pumper engine training for SI30/190 class. Office fire crew assisting National Audubon on one of their bums. We are in the yellow. F. HABITAT MANAGEMENT 22 F. HABITAT MANAGEMENT 23

The Mallard South Unit was prescribed burned in Johnson WPA also had extensive patches of Canada thistle. The most extensive patches were on all of March and the Mallard North Unit in April. Canada thistle the grass stands on the west ^ of the WPA. The west area was boom sprayed after the growing season began was allowed to green up, just prior to warm season growth. so Curtail was used on all of the uplands; which seemed to hold off most of the initial plants until late summer. We then boom sprayed part of both units on 5-02-01 with They were then boom sprayed again with Curtail in late-October. The south section was grazed all summer Roundup at 1 -1.5 quart per acre, and then sprayed the rest and then the north part of it was boom-sprayed with Roundup, and the south part with Curtail in late-October of the units with Curtail on 5-09-01. It appears that the to injure any late flowering plants. The east half of the WPA was spot-sprayed with Roundup in May and conditions at the time of spraying on the Mallard Unit were boom-sprayed with Curtail in early November. The entire WPA was also spot-sprayed in June. These fields ideal. A permanently marked transect went from will be boom-sprayed with Roundup again in 2002 prior to warm season growth. approximately 85% Canada thistle to less than 5% at the

Leafy spurge (Euphorbia esula) is not well established on refuge lands. Victor Lake WPA has the worst infestation. Fillmore County appears to have a well-established population in the road ditches and right-of- ways. Duane Huber stated, several times, that the Fillmore County weed supervisor refused to spray due to Canada thistle treated only with burning. Roundup the possibility of drift killing adjacent soybeans. We also have a number of parking lots on Funk and Johnson is applied to new growth after spring bum for better control. WPAs with leafy spurge. The source of seed appears to be from contaminated fill material (railroad rock) used for the parking lots. end of October. Some of the Redhead Unit and the Willet unit were also sprayed at the same time In the past we have relied on several spurge beetles (Apthona spp.) for control at Victor Lake and have for the same reason. Some Canada thistle could sprayed small isolated patches with Plateau. Plateau appears to be fairly effective on some sites with still be found throughout the fields, so we eradication occurring, as on Peterson WPA. On other sites, it has shown limited control, such as Victor Lake sprayed the bad spots again with Roundup in and the parking lots on Johnson and Funk. Fall applications of Plateau and applications of Roundup will be mid-October. The Redhead Unit appeared to be tried on select sites to measure their effectiveness. very clean in the Fall so it was the only area that was not sprayed twice. It appears that the bum New grass seeding in Canada thistle infested area after the followed by a Roundup application is very Purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria) is not well established on the WMD. Our control efforts have area was farmed three years with Roundup Ready soybeans. effective at killing Canada thistle. In the Mallard centered on pulling, bagging, and burning small populations when first detected. We monitor known sites in Unit, nearly all of the Canada thistle found July and educate the staff on identification at this time, as well. We also stress the importance of cleaning all appeared to be seedlings. Follow up treatments will be necessary, but at least we seem to be improving each equipment and ATVs when moving from site to site and keeping the equipment out of established stands of year and tend to have some control on the problem. We plan the burn/spray treatment for the N1/2SW1/4 loosestrife. We have begun the process of switching from surface irrigation to well irrigation on Linder, Victor Section 2 , the SE1/4SE1/4 Section 9, and the Mallard Units in 2002. Lake, Cottonwood, and Funk WPAs. One of the major reasons is to eliminate the likelihood of contamination with purple loosestrife, leafy spurge, phragmites, knapweeds, etc. at the sites.

A John Deere 5410 tractor was outfitted with a boom spray applicator which allowed for the treatment of large fields in a short amount of time. The cab is enclosed so it dramatically improves operator comfort and Purple loosestrife was again present on Johnson WPA. However, it appeared that the two Rodeo effectiveness. The field seeded in 98/99 began to show good grass establishment, however several patches of treatments in 1999 were very effective. A few plants were found at this site in 2001 and these were pulled and Canada thistle could still be found in 2000 and 2001. The field was boom sprayed with Curtail on 5/09/01. bagged. In 1999 this site had two solid acres of purple loosestrife. All of the dikes and field edges at Funk were also sprayed with Curtail in May. Re- treatment of the dikes was made in mid-June and again in October. We have not used Roundup in grass stands in the past due to the likelihood of killing the grass. Reed canary grass, smart weed, and other species grew back in the areas treated Efforts are being made to reduce the amount of tall wheatgrass on refuge lands. An application of with Roundup with a noticeable reduction in Canada thistle. We recommend that Roundup, instead of 2-4D Roundup was made with the tractor on the Platte River WPA(Wyoming property) in May of 2001 on about or Curtail be used to treat patches of Canada thistle where there are no well-established, desirable perennial 10-15 acres of the in the middle of the south unit. This seemed to bring on more desirable species in an plants. Treatment of Canada thistle with 2-4D and Curtail appears to have little long lasting effect. The tops otherwise sea of tall wheatgrass. Hannon WPA was also fall sprayed for the same purpose. Preliminary are burned back for a few weeks only to grow back even more vigorously. Roundup appears to kill the entire observations appear to show great success. plant, roots and all. If it is a site where annual plants are desirable, so much the better. Broadcasting grass seed into appropriate sites before, during, and after the Roundup treatments have proven to be successful. Control of reed canary grass (Phalaris arundinacea) and river bulrush (Scirpus fluviatillis) was done by haying, grazing disking, and fire. Haying was used on some wetlands to make the wetland more available for waterfowl use the following spring. Grazing appears to injure the roots primarily by the hoof action. Sites that we have grazed for several seasons have poorly developed roots with little seed production and if grazed at a F. HABITAT MANAGEMENT 24 F. HABITAT MANAGEMENT 25 fairly heavy rate it opens the area enough to allow smart weeds and other annuals to grow. Grazing appears Figure F.4. Pest Management Practices for 2001. to be a good management tool because of low costs and labor. Burning by itself, removed residual vegetation, but also stimulated plant growth. Disking provided the longest control- lasting several seasons or more under Costs the right conditions. See Section F.2. for details about disking. Name of Habitat Acres #s of Pest. Prop. No. Primary Target Species Chemical Other Pesticide Type Treated AE Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis) and smooth bromegrass (Bromus inermis) have invaded and overtaken RWB1-2001 Spike 20P grassland trees 0 uplands that have not been actively managed. Spring and early summer burns conducted in 2001 appear to have been very effective at controlling or even in some cases killing these species. RWB2-2001 2,4D grassland musk, plumeless, and 100 120 $1,600.00 $8,000.00 RWB3-2001 Roundup grassland Canada thistle 128 30 $800.00 $500.00

Tree removal and control is being done throughout the District. Species controlled are plains cottonwood RWB4-2001 Pleateau grassland leafy spurge 20 2 $200.00 $200.00 (Populus deltoides). eastern redcedar (Juniperis viginiana), Siberian elm (Ulmus pumila), willow (Salix spp.F RWB5-2001 Curtail grassland musk, plumeless, Canada 60 15 $150.00 $600.00 green ash (Fraxinus pennsylvanica), honeylocust (Gleditsia triacanthos), and Russian olive (Elaeagnus RWB6-2001 Pathway grassland deciduous trees 80 80 $1,000.00 $200.00 angustifolia). See Section F.2. for details about tree removal. RWB6-2001 Lasso grassland broadleaf weeds 0 RWB8-2001 Rodeo wetland cattail 0 0 Phragmites/northem reedgrass (Phragmites austral is) has spread extensively along the Platte River while RWB 1-2002 Spike 20P grassland trees 0 0 the WPAs have remained relatively free. Two patches on Funk WPA were observed in spring of 1999 and more than eight patches were found in October. In 2000, more than 15 patches could be found. It appears that RWB2-2002 2-4D grassland musk and Canada thistle 100 120 $1,600.00 $8,000.00 this species has now become well established on Funk WPA. After a prescribed burn was completed on the RWB3-2002 Roundup grassland Canada thistle 128 128 $2,500.00 $800.00 Mallard Unit at Funk a large patch was sprayed with Rodeo in mid June. The patch appeared dead until late RWB4-2002 Pleateau grassland leafy spurge 35 3 $300.00 $300.00 July and then vigorously regrew. The patch was disked in October. RWB5-2002 Curtail grassland musk and Canada thistle 75 60 $1,200.00 $3,000.00 RWB6-2002 Pathway grassland trees 15 15 $200.00 $200.00 The District's worst patches of crown vetch (Coronilla yaria) and hairy vetch (Vicia villosa) are located RWB7-2002 Lasso cropland broadleaf weeds 0 0 $0.00 $0.00 on Massie, Smith, County Line and Eckhardt WPAs. In 2001 we sprayed these patches with Curtail while spraying for musk or Canada thistle. It appeared to kill the plants. However, by the fall the patches had started RWB8-2002 Rodeo wetland cattail 0 0 $0.00 $0.00 to fill in again. Both species produce abundant seed and have extensive root systems. In 2001 we sprayed some of these sites with Roundup. We will broadcast seed warm season grasses into these areas as there will be no grass to compete. These sites would likely be areas to watch for thistle over the next several years. 11. Water Rights Water rights on Victor Lakes and several contracts on Funk WPAs were canceled. See Section F.2. for details. Butter-and-eggs or toadflax (Linnaria vulgaris) has been found on Funk in recent years. The sites were sprayed with Curtail when the plant was flowering. No plants were found in 2001. 12. Wilderness and Special Areas

Salt cedar (Tamarix ramosissima)was reportedly found on Funk WPA several years ago. None have been The Platte River National Wildlife Area continues to be owned by the state of Wyoming and is managed found since. by our office. An extension to the original 10-year agreement was signed in the fall of 2000. Funding from the flow depletion fund was used by Ecological Services (Private Lands) to open up some closed backwater areas and excavate small depressions. Most of this work was done in 2000 and 2001 with some remaining.

13. Easement Monitoring Easements held by this office are easements received from FmHA. Active grazing and haying programs have been developed for some of the easements. Several requests were received by new landowners to do practices prohibited on the easement. All requests were refused. One easement, located in Saunders County is being appraised for exchange of other property.

There were no violations to report. G. WILDLIFE 26 G. WILDLIFE 27

E.g., a bird seen on Funk last year was more likely to be seen in the Funk area this year than in a distant wetland. . WILDLIFE 1. Wildlife Diversity Snows did not gather in the Basin in association with where they were banded. E.g., Birds banded from a specific colony were found scattered throughout the District. More than 22,000 snow geese have been banded Management for wildlife diversity is in line with ecological processes that are believed to have existed since 1997. About 25 percent are seen and recorded in the first year after being banded (CWS statement). prior to settlement. Disturbance of wetland vegetation has created bare mudflats that have increased shorebird About 190 observation days were done in Nebraska in 2001. White-fronts are not staying in the Basin as long, use of wetlands. Overgrazing of select WPA areas has provided habitat for prairie dogs. As a result, like they used to. This may be associated with work Bobby Cox did on body fat and available food. Cox's burrowing owls have appeared on McMurtrey, Prairie Dog, Funk, and the Platte River National Wildlife Area. research found white-fronts put on less body fat within the Basin than they did 10 years earlier. The amount Other to with of uplands are being managed promote tall-grass prairie a high diversity forbs, sedges of waste grain was significantly less than is the previous decade. and grasses. The regal Ifitillary (Speyeria idalia) butterfly has been cited on areas containing tall thistle.

The more formal report of the snow goose study has not been completed by NGPC as of date. 2. Endangered and/or Threatened Species All managements on refuge lands are done in consideration of its impact or affect on endangered species. Management is done to encourage their use. However, since use is primarily by migratory birds, it is not predicable how much and when use will occur.

3. Waterfowl Spring migration is the most important time of the year for the District. Cold conditions caused spring migration to be later (about three weeks) than in recent years. F irst significant numbers of snow geese occurred on March 7 with most of them moving north on 22 March. Aerial bird surveys were hampered by snow cover which lasted until the 13th of March. At the peak of migration (March 14th), aerial flight surveys recorded 264 separate flocks of snow geese. NGPC's preliminary estimate was about six million light geese in the West and 3.3 million in the East. About 38 percent was the blue phase. By March 24, the numbers had dropped to 175,700 in the West and 185,600 in the East. On March 30 it was 58,100 in West and 62,050 in East.

Preliminary results from ground counts, conducted on 27 wetlands were made. It was observed that there were significantly more snows, pintails and white-fronts in the West than in the East. There were also better water conditions in the West at the same time. The snow goose study noted that there were significantly more white-fronted geese in the West (non-hunted) region than in the East; compared to 2000 when the difference between East and West (both areas hunted) was not significant. In both 2000 and 2001, northern pintail numbers were significantly different between the east and west regions. Snows goose numbers were significantly related to the acres of open water and acres of vegetation. Acres of vegetation was significant for white-fronts and pintails. Day type (hunting vs. non-hunting) had a significant effect on pintail numbers.

Neck collars were also read by a variety of people, ranging from Canadian Wildlife Service, refuge staff, NGPC staff, and volunteers. 1809 neck collars on snows were read. 1381 were unique (one time sightings). 312 neck collars on Ross's were read, 230 were unique. 90 neck collars on white-fronted were read, 62 were unique. Thirteen Canada neck collars were read. 10 were unique. 252 birds with collars were read more than once in the Basin. Only 16 snows first seen in the East moved to the West District. That computes to only a 5.2 percent chance of bird moving to west. Only five snow geese, first seen in the West moved to the East District; 1.6 percent chance of bird moving to the East. Running analysis on these movements showed that difference in movement was significant. The cause of movement may have been traditional movement or that caused by hunting pressure. Snows seemed to have a regional fidelity between years, but not a wetland fidelity. G. WILDLIFE 28 G. WILDLIFE 29

4. Marsh and Water Birds Jeff assisted in the spring survey of mid-continent sandhill cranes as an aerial observer. Table G1. lists 5. Shorebirds, Gulls, Terns and Allied Species birds recorded during shorebird counts. Two shorebird surveys were designed for the RWB as part of the International Shorebird Survey. One is an intensive survey on Funk WPA and the other is an extensive survey in Clay and Fillmore counties (Table Gl). Table G.l. Shore t)ird and water bird counts in 2001. DATE (mm/dd) 04/18 05/07 05/25 06/06 06/19 07/20 07/31 08/15 09/05 09/20 10/04 10/25 TOTAL Am. Avocet 9 9 18 Table G2. Shoreline bird survey of Funk WPA in 2001. Baird's Sandpiper 71 156 1 18 246 DATE (mm/dd)—> 4/16 4/25 5/09 5/24 6/07 6/21 7/19 8/01 8/08 8/23 9/04 9/17 10/02 10/16 10/26 TOTAL 14 Black-bellied Plover 27 1 28 Am. Avocet 5 2 6 1 Buff-br. Sandpiper 6 2 35 94 6 143 Baird's Sandpiper 3 1 152 14 2 5 6 183 7 Common Snipe 2 1 6 7 4 20 Black-bellied Plover 7 26 Dunlin 11 11 Common Snipe 8 2 4 7 5 15 Greater Yellowlegs 3 8 8 11 30 Dunlin 15 5 Hudsonian Godwit 22 22 Greater Yellowlegs 1 1 3 Killdeer 31 27 47 38 33 152 100 119 19 10 10 586 Killdeer 5 4 15 13 10 56 33 16 33 14 7 12 12 230 670 Least Sandpiper 23 12 775 12 20 21 2 865 Least Sandpiper 6 136 468 8 42 10 Lesser Yellowlegs 16 104 1 8 12 31 14 8 15 209 Lesser Yellowlegs 1 2 3 2 55 10 18 10 12 2 115 Long-bill. 6 3 8 121 138 Long-bill. 23 58 8 3 67 31 44 4 13 12 263 1 Lr. Golden Plover 4 4 Marbled Godwit 1 Marbled Godwit 10 10 Pectoral Sandpiper 1 11 67 28 12 28 12 13 1 3 176 17 Pectoral Sandpiper 27 6 117 147 4 8 15 324 Sanderling 14 3 29 Ruddy Turnstone 5 5 Semipalmated 1 23 5 141 Sanderling 1 1 Semipalmated 30 33 22 12 26 6 12 32 Semipalmated 3 1 6 10 Solitary Sandpiper 7 14 9 2 Semipalmated 22 200 3 6 6 237 Spotted Sandpiper 1 4 2 3 1 5 5 21 1127 Short-bill. 58 58 Stilt Sandpiper 83 543 3 269 92 48 21 68 612 Solitary Sandpiper 24 1 2 27 Western Sandpiper 82 371 95 21 43 756 Spotted Sandpiper 12 1 10 2 25 Wh.-rumped Sandp. 111 630 9 6 1188 Stilt Sandpiper 5 172 5 10 22 214 Wilson's Phalarope 930 134 52 4 36 16 8 8 Upland Sandpiper 30 11 8 4 69 6 128 Totals 44 968 707 2351 45 62 68 654 195 196 80 188 35 20 15 5628 Western Sandpiper 17 24 14 7 15 77 2 Wh.-rumped Sandp. 826 12 10 848 American Bittern 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 434 Wilson's Phalarope 10 424 112 1 2 1 5 12 567 Black Tern 0 0 0 287 1 3 37 61 45 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 1 4 1 0 0 0 0 19 227 772 2470 59 39 208 235 414 54 126 29 200 4823 Black-crowned 0 1 0 2 6 1 Double-crested 0 0 0 6 0 2 4 2 3 0 5 30 30 0 0 82 American Bittern 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 Great Blue Heron 0 0 0 0 0 3 17 17 25 9 24 56 56 0 0 207 Black-crowned 0 4 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 Great Egret 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 15 14 8 15 11 11 0 0 77 Black Tern 0 8 0 8 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 21 White-faced Ibis 0 1 1 3 2 78 0 16 17 7 2 14 14 0 0 155 Double-rested 4 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 Totals 1 3 1 298 9 87 63 112 105 28 47 111 111 0 0 976 Great Blue Heron 0 0 3 7 3 5 2 19 14 9 2 1 65 Great Egret 0 9 3 3 0 0 3 6 12 1 0 1 38 Green Heron 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 White-faced Ibis 0 33 0 1 6 0 0 4 24 0 0 0 68 Totals 0 60 6 20 15 5 5 29 50 10 2 2 204 .vx '"' •x' A

H. PUBLIC USE 30 H. PUBLIC USE 31

a drainage ditch. This will allow hikers and birdwatchers to cross from one end of the wetland to the other via 6. Raptors dikes and the bridge. Nothing to report An information kiosk located at Funk was totally destroyed by vandals. It appears they continually 7. Other Migratory Birds rammed a vehicle into the 8"X8" wooden posts until the Numerous burrowing owls sighted during the breeding season. whole structure collapsed. Phelps County Sheriffs Department was notified but no arrests were made.

8. Game Mammals 9. Marine Mammals 10. Other Resident Wildlife 11. Fisheries Resources

12. Wildlife Propagation and Stocking Public use kiosk destroyed by vandalism Jeff and NGPC staff trapped prairie dogs from private land in Fillmore County and relocated 50 individuals to McMurtrey WPA. Brice prepared the release site by mowing the vegetation and drilling 6-inch A website (http://rainwatcr.fws.gov)was expanded diagonal holes with a power post hole digger. and updated for the Rainwater Basin WMD. It includes information about land management in general, birdwatching, pumping, and specific information about 13. Surplus Animal Disposal select WPAs that have had significant changes in 14. Scientific Collections management. Brad instructing scouting groups about water birds 15. Animal Control in the Rainwater Basin 16. Marking and Banding 2. Outdoor Classrooms - Students Tom conducted several outdoor classrooms in the spring during migration with area schools. Tom and 17. Disease Prevention and Control Jeff put on waterfowl identification programs at two locations within the District. No outbreak of avian cholera occurred during 2001. We believe there are a variety of reasons for this, some we do not even know. First, the spring was quite wet, the birds arrived later and left earlier, our past 3. Outdoor Classrooms - Teachers management of wetland vegetation has allowed for more open water, and management of aquatic vegetation Our office provided funding and assistance in conducting an outdoor environmental education class that has caused a better separation of snow geese from other species. was held on Funk WPA

4. Interpretive Foot Trails H. PUBLIC USE Nothing to report 1. General

Public use of Waterfowl Production Areas is difficult to estimate. The areas are scattered throughout 14 5. Interpretive Tour Routes counties and are used for all types of daylight recreational activities. We estimated 85,000 visitors used these areas during 2001. The dominant activities are hunting and bird watching. Nothing to report

One hundred and twenty-eight parking lots were mowed prior to opening of waterfowl hunting. Rock was 6. Interpretive Exhibits/Demonstrations hauled on a dike used by hikers on Funk. A steel bridge was also constructed on Funk to allow access across Our office continues to work with Nebraska Game and Parks to develop an information sign to be located at Funk WPA. Eight large (4 feet by 8 feet) identification signs were purchased to mark the more popular H. PUBLIC USE 32 H. PUBLIC USE 33 areas. The Wing Ding organization in Clay Center provided funding to purchase two of the signs which will 9. Fishing be placed on Massie. Plans are to work with the local Boys Scouts to have the signs constructed in 2002. The dry summer conditions caused water levels in Funk to become extremely low. The resident carp population was destined to extinction when a summer rain added several inches of water back into the main 7. Other Interpretive Programs pool. Prior to the rain, carp carcasses lined the shore of the main pool.

8. Hunting 10. Trapping At the time of this report, NGPC has not compiled the harvest records for waterfowl within the Rainwater Nothing to report Basin. 11. Wildlife Observation Historically, Rainwater Basin has been closed to the late-winter light goose hunt that is held after mid- Nothing to report February. There was consistent opposition to the closure by NGPC. They held the position that closing the area to hunting causes more light geese to concentrate in the area, threatening severe disease outbreaks. The Service contended that hunting would cause significant disturbance to other species, especially endangered 12. Other Wildlife Oriented Recreation species, and concentrate even more birds on the water if only upland hunting is allowed. Nothing to report

In February 1999, the late-winter (experimental hunt) season for light geese was allowed in Zone 1, east 13. Camping of US 281 (See Figure H.1.). Zone 2 remained closed. Zone 1 was open to hunting on Saturdays, Sundays, Camping is not allowed on Waterfowl Production Areas. Tuesdays, and Thursdays on public areas and open all week on private lands. Unplugged shotguns and electronic calls were allowed part-way into the season. 14. Picnicking In 2000, the light goose late-winter experimental hunt went from February 3 to March 10. Hunting was Nothing to report allowed in both the east and west portions of the District. Hunting was allowed four days a week (Saturday, Sunday, Wednesday and Thursday). Some public areas were closed to hunting during the season. In Zone 1, 15. Off-Road Vehicling they included: Massie, Hultine, Springer, Wilkins, Pintail WMA, Verona, Bluebill WMA, Eckhardt, Nelson, Kirkpatrick Basin North WMA, Swan Creek WMA, and Swan Lake NRD. In zone 2 the areas closed were: Off-road vehicling is not allowed on Waterfowl Production Areas. Funk, Prairie Dog, Bluestem, Lindau, and Clark.

16. Other Non-Wildlife Oriented Recreation In addition to the late-winter season, 2000 was the first year that the conservation action was allowed. Nothing to report It allowed the harvest of light geese beyond the March 10 date set by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. Regulations remained the same, except there was no bag limit and shooting hours were extended to 30 minutes past sunset. In 2001, electronic calls were allowed during the conservation hunt. Law enforcement indicated 17. Law Enforcement that those using electronic calls were having significantly better success. NGPC used our gun range for training and qualification. Steve Karel attended Law Enforcement Academy in January 2001. Our office has its full LE staff of two collateral duty officers. Violations were In 2001, hunting was again only allowed in Zone 1. We received some calls from hunters complaining pretty much limited to hunting violations and vandalism. about the West being closed. But, for the most part, the public was accepting of the closure. The delayed and shorter stay by snow geese affected the harvest. NGPC has not provided any figures as of this date. 18. Cooperating Associations No cooperating associations exist. Because no public land is immediately associated with the office, and The fall 2001 was the second early teal season. NGPC continued a survey to determine hunters' ability the office is located in a metal building in the industrial section of town, the public has little interest in visiting to adhere to the regulations. Relatively few violations involving harvest of other species have been found by our headquarters. our officers. I. EQUIPMENT AND FACILITIES 34 J. OTHER ITEMS 35

19. Concessions 6. Computer Systems Nothing to report ArcView software was purchased and installed. Ducks Unlimited has created a database/GIS interface that allows multiple agencies to record all management and restoration activities on lands within the Rainwater Basin region. This includes both public and private lands. We switched our internet service provider to a cable system for faster speeds. In early December, all internet access was disabled for the DOI causing chaos within EQUIPMENT AND FACILITIES our agency and with other agencies and partners. When that will be reconnected is anybody's guess. 1. New Construction Nothing to report 7. Energy Conservation Nothing to report

2. Rehabilitation The Federal Highway Administration Central Federal Lands Highway Division surveyed roads and 8. Other parking lots on refuge lands within the Rainwater Basin. They surveyed 128 parking lots covering 1,164,091 square feet. Their report identified the cost to bring "native ground" parking lots to excellent condition was in excess of $1 million. For some of us, excellent is equal to native. OTHER ITEMS 1. Cooperative Programs 3. Major Maintenance Nothing to report 2. Other Economic Uses 4. Equipment Utilization and Replacement Nothing to report A list of MMS projects and equipment purchases for 2001 are listed below:

3. Items of Interest • Replace one pickup Nothing to report • Replace a farm tractor • Repair parking lots 4. Credits • Replace water control structure on Funk Nothing to report • Purchase a Model 52 fire pumper • Diesel Engine for Quadhammer WPA—$7,682.50 • Propane Engine on Trailer—$6,052.50 Appendix • A trailer-$3,720.00 Additional information about the Rainwater Basin Wetland Management District can be found on the (NGPC Share-$14,107.00) attached CD. • Stripper Head-$17,000 (FWS paid for) Supplies~(FWS paid for) Combine: NGPC-$20,625; PF $8,250; RWBJV-$4,125

5. Communications Systems Our office relies totally on cellular phones for communication. The old radio system was too costly and ineffective for the large area we cover.