Arkansas Game and Fish Commission Makes Decision to Change Greentree Reservoir Management for the Benefit of Wildlife, Current and Future Waterfowlers

In 2014, Arkansas Game and Fish Commission (AGFC) biologists catalogued something they had been noticing for years at Henry Gray Hurricane Lake Wildlife Management Area (WMA): They found that 42% of trees there were under serious stress, irreversibly dying, or already dead. A similar 2018 assessment found a massive tree die-off had occurred at Hurricane, particularly of red oaks—among the most favored species for wildlife because of the bountiful acorn mast they produce. Moreover, red oaks at George H. Dunklin Jr. Bayou Meto, the crown jewel of Arkansas public land duck hunting, are now showing severe stress much like that seen at Hurricane in the years prior to the 2018 die-off.

Aerial view of extensive die-off at Hurricane Lake WMA in Arkansas

Aerial view of extensive die-off at Hurricane Lake WMA in Arkansas

Graphic showing die-off areas in Hurriane Lake WMA outlined in red

Graphic showing die-off areas in Hurriane Lake WMA outlined in red

 

As Austin Booth, the newly appointed AGFC Director, explained in a videotaped AGFC news conference in September 2021, rather than pinning the blame on factors they cannot control (such as increased rainfall), the agency is “doubling down” to ensure these habitats are around for the next generation. ”It’s our responsibility to control what we can control,” he said.

 

What the agency can control is water levels in greentree reservoirs (GTRs) contained by levees and manipulated by water control structures. To this end, the agency has announced a two-year program of gradually reducing the depth to which GTRs at Bayou Meto are intentionally flooded, while constructing improved access to these areas to accommodate hunters (see an explanation of potential water levels at Bayou Meto). As GTR renovations are completed across the 16 WMAs, management plans will be revised to provide a more natural flooding and flow regime by:

·      delaying intentional flooding each year until no earlier than mid-November to prevent extra stress that trees experience from floodwater before they are fully dormant;

·      incorporating flexibility in water management to allow year-to-year variability and a more cyclical five- to seven-year flood cycle.

 

As Booth stated, the timing of this GTR water management decision is the “new normal.” In the past, water levels each year were mostly static, but this ignores rainfall in the year leading up to water control as well as forest health and regeneration status. By making water level decisions in the fall of each year prior to management, AGFC is able to be more responsive to rain levels that occurred in spring as well as current forest conditions.

 

Brad Carner, chief of wildlife management for the AGFC, noted, “Hunters will begin to see some changes in how flooding occurs on these areas as we now move forward.” While these changes will potentially leave more than 1800 acres of Bayou Meto GTR with unmanaged water (as well as significant portions of Hurricane and Bayou DeView), AGFC plans to improve hunter access prior to the full implementation of water management changes in the 2022-23 hunting season. Booth’s call to Arkansans is clear. He says ask yourself, “Am I a mere consumer or am I a sportsman? I am confident that you will reach the same conclusion that I have. That this resource, the world-renowned Arkansas GTRs, that these are worth saving, that we’re not going to kick the can down the road, that this is worth fighting for, that it’s worth preserving for the next generation of Arkansas waterfowlers.”

 

For more specifics on the location and timing of water management changes to occur at three Arkansas Wildlife Management Areas, read the AGFC September 2, 2021 press release.

 

 

Read more about the history of Greentree Reservoirs in “Conserving Arkansas’s Flooded Timber Legacy.” You’ll find the answers to the following questions and more.

  • Do you know why Arkansas greentree reservoirs were originally established? (hint: not for duck hunting!)

  • How has GTR water level management changed over time and how have these changes contributed to tree decline?

  • Which species of trees are most affected and why are these trees so important as sources of food for ducks?

  • What are the early signs of tree decline?

  • How will water level management change through the hunting season when based on a more natural flood regime, compared to historical season-long “full pools” at GTRs?

 

 

 

JV Elliott