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Where rice fields go, geese follow, experts report
Researchers say there’s more geese wintering in Arkansas than
ever before. Experts are using transmitters to understand migration patterns
and winter distribution. Special to The Commercial/Jarrod Hardke.
By Ryan McGeeney Special to The Commercial
Posted
Oct 26, 2017 at 3:41 PMUpdated
Oct 26, 2017 at 4:43 PM
MONTICELLO – The western edge of
the Mississippi Delta, which contributes so richly to Arkansas agriculture, is
well known as a prime area for hunters, with both wet marshes and flooded rice
fields after the fall. But it hasn’t always necessarily been so.
Until about the early 1990′s, the
migration patterns of Arctic geese — migrating over North America through the
fall and into the winter — were dominated not by the Delta, but by the rich,
rice-dominated farmland of East Texas and Louisiana. But as drought took hold
in the South and water rights issues left growers in those areas with little
choice but to move into other, less water-intensive crops, mid-continent
migration patterns gradually gravitated toward eastern Arkansas.
Which raises more than a few questions.
Satellite telemetry technology
Douglass Osborne, associate
professor at the University of Arkansas at Monticello, has been leading a
research team studying not only how the shift occurred, but what some of the
potential adverse implications may be, as well.
“Right now, we’re in the
relatively early stages of using satellite telemetry technology to learn about
the distribution of the geese on the landscape.” Osborne said. “Aerial surveys
are conducted during the winter, and anecdotally, we know that there’s more
geese wintering in Arkansas than ever before. We’re using transmitters to
understand migration patterns and winter distribution.”
Osborne and his team have about
40 years’ worth of data to work with, much of it from band and encounter data, supplied
from hunters on occasions when banded birds were harvested during a hunt.
“Analyzing that data, we see that
the initial shift in distribution, from Texas-Louisiana into Arkansas, occurred
in the 90′s. In the early 2000′s, we see a really dramatic shift into the
Arkansas Delta,” he said. At the same time so many Texas and Louisiana growers
were shifting from rice to cotton, Arkansas rice growers realized that by
reflooding their fields after harvest, they could in turn make a profit leasing
the land to bird hunters for the season.
Trading coastal layovers for the Delta
Osborne said the data reflect three distinct time periods over the past four
decades, including a historical wintering distribution of migrating arctic
geese, a transient distribution in the mid- to late-90′s, as the birds “began
to dabble in Arkansas,” and the current distribution, in which the birds have
essentially traded their coastal layovers for the Delta.
“Historically, these birds were
migrating from the arctic tundra in the summer, through the mid-continent and
toward the Gulf of Mexico, hanging out in freshwater coastal marshes, feeding
on plant material in the marsh, digging up the root tubers, then bouncing out
of the marsh into the surrounding agriculture,” Osborne said. “But the
conversion of agriculture toward cotton in the mid-1990′s in that part of the
world took water off the landscape — water that was necessary for these birds
in winter.
While the increasing artic goose
population may be a boon to both landowners and hunters, Osborne said there are
other, long-term factors to consider.
“It’s worth asking: What is the role of these
geese in the agricultural system itself,” Osborne said. “What’s their role in
nutrient distribution, and seed dispersal of different weeds? Are these geese
environmental pests, or do they help agriculture?
“There’s also potential impacts
for other waterfowl, that historically always wintered here,” he said. “There’s
upwards of 3 million white-fronted geese in the population, and 10-20 million
snow geese in the population — so now that a large portion of the distribution
of birds has shifted into Arkansas, what does that mean for the amount of food
on the landscape, which other birds always wintered here rely on?”
Osborne said that because hunting
is such a strong engine in the Arkansas economy, it behooves the state and its
residents to consider such implications, including effects on the populations
and reproduction of other birds competing for scarce resources.
Osborne said his research, which
began about three years ago, could easily take a career’s worth of time.
“You attempt to answer one
question, and it leads to about four more questions,” he said.
More research needed?
While his research to this point
has been supported through the University of Arkansas System Division of
Agriculture, Ducks Unlimited, the Canadian Wildlife Services and Environment
Canada, Osborne said his team is hoping to attract underwriters for continuing
research.
“Overall, the waterfowl community
thinks there’s too many geese on the landscape — but what does ‘too many geese’
mean, and what impacts are they having on agricultural production in the
southern portion of the range?” Osborne said. “This whole topic is a relatively
unexplored area right now. There’s lots to learn about what impacts these geese
may have here in the South.”
To learn about waterfowl in
Arkansas, contact a local Cooperative Extension Service agent or visit www.uaex.edu.
The University of Arkansas System
Division of Agriculture offers all its Extension and Research programs to all
eligible persons without discrimination.
Posted
Oct 26, 2017 at 3:41 PMUpdated
Oct 26, 2017 at 4:43 PM
MONTICELLO – The western edge of
the Mississippi Delta, which contributes so richly to Arkansas agriculture, is
well known as a prime area for hunters, with both wet marshes and flooded rice
fields after the fall. But it hasn’t always necessarily been so.
Until about the early 1990′s, the
migration patterns of Arctic geese — migrating over North America through the
fall and into the winter — were dominated not by the Delta, but by the rich,
rice-dominated farmland of East Texas and Louisiana. But as drought took hold
in the South and water rights issues left growers in those areas with little
choice but to move into other, less water-intensive crops, mid-continent
migration patterns gradually gravitated toward eastern Arkansas.
Which raises more than a few questions.
Satellite telemetry technology
Douglass Osborne, associate
professor at the University of Arkansas at Monticello, has been leading a
research team studying not only how the shift occurred, but what some of the
potential adverse implications may be, as well.
“Right now, we’re in the relatively
early stages of using satellite telemetry technology to learn about the
distribution of the geese on the landscape.” Osborne said. “Aerial surveys are
conducted during the winter, and anecdotally, we know that there’s more geese
wintering in Arkansas than ever before. We’re using transmitters to understand
migration patterns and winter distribution.”
Osborne and his team have about
40 years’ worth of data to work with, much of it from band and encounter data,
supplied from hunters on occasions when banded birds were harvested during a
hunt.
“Analyzing that data, we see that
the initial shift in distribution, from Texas-Louisiana into Arkansas, occurred
in the 90′s. In the early 2000′s, we see a really dramatic shift into the
Arkansas Delta,” he said. At the same time so many Texas and Louisiana growers
were shifting from rice to cotton, Arkansas rice growers realized that by
reflooding their fields after harvest, they could in turn make a profit leasing
the land to bird hunters for the season.
Trading coastal layovers for the Delta
Osborne said the data reflect three distinct time periods over the past four
decades, including a historical wintering distribution of migrating arctic
geese, a transient distribution in the mid- to late-90′s, as the birds “began
to dabble in Arkansas,” and the current distribution, in which the birds have
essentially traded their coastal layovers for the Delta.
“Historically, these birds were
migrating from the arctic tundra in the summer, through the mid-continent and
toward the Gulf of Mexico, hanging out in freshwater coastal marshes, feeding
on plant material in the marsh, digging up the root tubers, then bouncing out
of the marsh into the surrounding agriculture,” Osborne said. “But the
conversion of agriculture toward cotton in the mid-1990′s in that part of the
world took water off the landscape — water that was necessary for these birds
in winter.
While the increasing artic goose
population may be a boon to both landowners and hunters, Osborne said there are
other, long-term factors to consider.
“It’s worth asking: What is the role of these
geese in the agricultural system itself,” Osborne said. “What’s their role in
nutrient distribution, and seed dispersal of different weeds? Are these geese
environmental pests, or do they help agriculture?
“There’s also potential impacts
for other waterfowl, that historically always wintered here,” he said. “There’s
upwards of 3 million white-fronted geese in the population, and 10-20 million
snow geese in the population — so now that a large portion of the distribution
of birds has shifted into Arkansas, what does that mean for the amount of food
on the landscape, which other birds always wintered here rely on?”
Osborne said that because hunting
is such a strong engine in the Arkansas economy, it behooves the state and its
residents to consider such implications, including effects on the populations
and reproduction of other birds competing for scarce resources.
Osborne said his research, which
began about three years ago, could easily take a career’s worth of time.
“You attempt to answer one
question, and it leads to about four more questions,” he said.
More research needed?
While his research to this point
has been supported through the University of Arkansas System Division of
Agriculture, Ducks Unlimited, the Canadian Wildlife Services and Environment
Canada, Osborne said his team is hoping to attract underwriters for continuing
research.
“Overall, the waterfowl community
thinks there’s too many geese on the landscape — but what does ‘too many geese’
mean, and what impacts are they having on agricultural production in the
southern portion of the range?” Osborne said. “This whole topic is a relatively
unexplored area right now. There’s lots to learn about what impacts these geese
may have here in the South.”
To learn about waterfowl in
Arkansas, contact a local Cooperative Extension Service agent or visit www.uaex.edu.
The University of Arkansas System
Division of Agriculture offers all its Extension and Research programs to all
eligible persons without discrimination.
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