By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
Call it baby steps. After months of drought in Central and Western Kansas, the rain is starting to fall. Cheyenne Bottoms Wildlife Manager Jason Wagner said he was able to bring some water into the refuge though rains in the immediate area were only mildly beneficial.
"We've still got a long way to go," he said. "What it did do is it kind of primed that area for the future. Hopefully, it looks like we're breaking the spell. At least there's some rain falling in Kansas. It did prime the drainage basin, so hopefully we'll start getting some more runoff."
On May 5, Ness County received rain over the Walnut Creek. One gauge in Utica in the northwest part of the county showed 3.16 inches, and two more showed more than an inch. Wagner was able to open up the Walnut dam at the bottoms, but the peak flow was only 60 cubic feet per second.
"One cubic foot per second over a 24-hour period equals two-acre feet of water," he said. "We need 29,000 acre-feet of water to fill up. It's going to take a lot."
In the meantime, Bottoms staff is prepping for when there is water again. Old footbridges going over ditches from the roads into some of the pools have been replaced. Five of the old bridges have been replaced with 14 40-foot bridges to allow better access.