Habitat First Initiative Brings Partners Together to Conserve Kansas Wetlands
Engineers, biologists, and playa experts help private landowners conserve and restore playas on their land.
By Wes Sowards, Assistant Director of the Wildlife Division at Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks & Tourism
Kansas is blessed with a dynamic and diverse landscape, which includes the unaltered tall-grass prairie of the Flint Hills, mid-grass prairie in central Kansas, shortgrass prairie of the High Plains, and agricultural fields mixed throughout. No matter the landscape, the Wildlife Division of the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism (KDWPT) is tasked with conserving our wildlife resources, and the best way to ensure healthy wildlife populations is to enhance habitat. Habitat First is a program designed to do just that.
KDWPT employs 29 district wildlife biologists, area wildlife biologists, and wildlife biologist technicians who work with private landowners, providing technical assistance on habitat practice implementation, USDA farm bill programs, and regional habitat initiatives. Regional initiatives benefit specific species such as the lesser prairie chicken in the southwest and northern bobwhite quail in the southeast. Currently, one of the program’s largest initiatives is restoring and conserving wetlands in the High Plains of western Kansas.
You may be wondering, “There are wetlands in western Kansas?” The answer is yes. According to Playa Lakes Joint Venture — a regional partnership of federal and state wildlife agencies, conservation groups and private industry dedicated to conserving bird habitat throughout the western Great Plains — there are about 80,000 of them scattered across the western Great Plains. These are known as playas or playa lakes — true gems of the prairies.
In an effort to conserve our playa lakes and reduce the impacts irrigated farming practices have on the Ogallala Aquifer, KDWPT has partnered with Ducks Unlimited (DU), Kansas Alliance for Wetlands and Streams, and USDA NRCS (Natural Resources Conservation Service), forming the Playa Initiative. This is just one of many mutually-beneficial partnerships the agency has formed to make our conservation mission a reality.
The Playa Initiative brings together DU engineers, KDWPT biologists, and individuals with playa expertise to provide technical assistance to private landowners who desire to conserve and enhance playas on their land. Conservation practices include filling pits dug years ago to keep water from flooding playas; planting grass buffers around playas to reduce siltation; and allowing the playa to re-vegetate naturally.
In addition to conservation practices, landowners and conservation organizations can make the biggest impact by putting land with playas into easements. That’s where the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (ACEP) comes in.
ACEP works to conserve wetlands and working agricultural lands through easements for a minimum of 30 years or in perpetuity. The easements are designed by the landowner and NRCS and pay the landowner a set rate per acre for the length of the enrollment. This not only helps landowners, but it also eliminates the threat of future development on the enrolled acres.
With our partners, KDWPT staff are working hard to conserve and enhance some of the state’s most ecologically important landscapes to the benefit of our natural resources and the sportsmen and women who help make it possible.
How will you contribute?
If you or someone you know would like more information about this playa conservation initiative, visit PlayasWorkForKansas.com.
Private landowners can receive technical assistance for playa conservation through the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks & Tourism (KDWPT) Habitat First program. Technical assistance may include recommendations on habitat improvement, cover types, and food establishment for all species of wildlife. Additionally, there are several state and federal wildlife programs that can provide financial assistance for improving wildlife habitat. KDWPT biologists also coordinate public hunting access programs, which may be used in conjunction with some conservation practices.
