Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 16-16.
General locality map for Cheyenne Bottoms, Barton County, central Kansas. The state Cheyenne
Bottoms Wildlife Area (CBWA) occupies the downstream or sump portion of the bottoms; its water supply is
diverted from Walnut Creek and delivered via an inlet canal. Nature Conservancy land is located in the upstream
deltaic portion of the Bottoms; its water is derived from natural overl ows of Blood and Deception creeks. Location
of the Kansas Wetland Education Center is indicated by the asterisk (*). Panchromatic image based on Landsat TM
bands 2, 5 and 7; 3 September 2009. Image from NASA; processing by J.S. Aber.
dramatic during the 1990s, as documented by
multitemporal Landsat imagery (Pavri and
Aber 2004). This was the result of relatively cool
and wet climate, water management schemes,
and general expansion of cattails across the
Great Plains (Zimmerman 1990). This invasion
led to a decline of open-water and mudl at habi-
tats, which subsequently caused a reduction in
shorebird use (Kostecke, Smith and Hands
2004). Various methods for cattail management
are practiced, including disking, mowing, con-
trolled burning, l ooding, drying, grazing, and
combinations thereof. In TNC marshes, cattail
infestation reached a crisis point at the
beginning of the twenty-i rst century (Fig. 16-
17A). At that time, TNC decided to control cattail
using natural drought-and-l ood cycles.
Beginning in the summer of 2002, a drought
took place in which water levels dropped and
portions of the marsh dried up. In the spring of
2003, much of the cattail had died, although
small patches and narrow zones of cattails sur-
vived, mainly around the margins of thickets
(Fig. 16-17B). Drought conditions continued
through 2003 and early 2004. After the demise
of the cattails, TNC began an attempt at marsh
restoration in early spring 2004. Three treat-
ments were applied to selected sections of dead
cattail thatch. Some areas were mowed, some
were burned, and some were left untouched.
The result of this experiment was an unsystem-
atic pattern in the removal of cattail thatch.
Drought conditions ended rather abruptly in
June 2004, heavy rain fell and the marshes were
l ooded. Wet conditions continued into 2005,
when the marsh contained a mosaic of shallow
pools and mudl ats, with a mixture of emergent
wetland vegetation.
