By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
If the neighbor's yard has weeds, the odds are those weeds will find their way into your yard. That's part of the approach on a pair of new projects around Cheyenne Bottoms. Kansas Wetlands Education Center Director Curtis Wolf said Ducks Unlimited has purchased and will restore approximately 320 acres of land in an area near the Cheyenne Bottoms campground and office.
"This half-section of ground has been in crop production for quite a few years," he said. "With that crop production, that land was modified pretty heavily. At one time, there was a wetland, and there was actually a little stream that went through that area."
Ducks Unlimited has purchased several pieces of land over the years. The goal of this project is to restore the wetland before turning the property over to the Nature Conservancy.
The Hoisington Gun Club owns a stretch of land that is largely surrounded by Nature Conservancy lands. Though the gun club's land will remain private, that group is also working to make the land usable.
"They're moving out a lot of silt," Wolf said. "They're digging out some areas. They've done a lot of treatment of the phragmites, that invasive plant, and the cattails as well. They're trying to clean that area up."
Over the last several years, Cheyenne Bottoms staff has worked on its land to eliminate areas of cattails and other invasive species. A large controlled burn on Feb. 7 helped with that process.