By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
One reason natural wetlands are important to the environment is their ability to filter water as it moves throughout a basin. That task may be working against Cheyenne Bottoms. Moderate rains in November, a dry December, and powdery snow that fell over the weekend have kept the Bottoms mostly dry. Kansas Wetlands Education Center Director Curtis Wolf said that could be a result of the everchanging landscape at the Bottoms.
"I still think the wetlands themselves are different than they were 40 or 50 years ago in that there's so much more silt in that basin," he said. "If that silt wasn't there, I actually think we'd have more permanent water in there and we'd have water now."
Wolf pointed to recent digging projects completed by Cheyenne Bottoms Wildlife Manager Jason Wagner and staff. Water stands where silt has been removed in those areas. But the state-controlled portion of the Bottoms is some 20,000 acres. Approximately 1,000 dump trucks full of silt were removed from less than one acre of that land. Ultimately, Mother Nature will have to play a larger role than land management in refilling the Bottoms.
"It's going to take a large rain that produces runoff and comes in through the watershed," said Wolf. "What that amount is, who knows. I think a 3-4 inch rain would do wonders if it was in the right place."
Wolf said a big rain near Odin at the end of summer nearly benefitted the Bottoms greatly. As watersheds go, however, the precipitation fell just north of where it needed and emptied into the Smoky Hill basin instead.