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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/bear-river-flowing-into-brmbr-9111-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"bear-river-flowing-into-brmbr-9111-ron-dudley\\"")
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Obviously water as a resource will always be precious here in the high desert but yesterday morning at least the Bear River where it entered the refuge appeared to be full to overflowing. My questions to Erin weren’t directly related to the total amount of water available to the refuge as a whole. Instead I was concerned about how the water going specifically to Unit 2 has been managed recently. Going into the meeting I was aware that their recent management decisions were largely related to phragmites control but some of the things I saw out there just… didn’t… make… sense.<\/p>\n
At least not to me, thus my visit with Erin.<\/p>\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/water-control-structure-bear-river-mbr-9122-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"water-control-structure-bear-river-mbr-9122-ron-dudley\\"")
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My concerns began right here. This is a major water control structure on the north side of Unit 2. By the spring of 2017 it was showing its age and needed to be replaced (this is the new one). In a nutshell here’s the timeline of events that eventually caused my internal alarms to go off and it all began with this structure:<\/p>\n
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- Late spring of 2017. BRMBR announced that they would drain Unit 2 for the summer so they could replace this water control structure when the soil dried out. Even though that’s a disaster for nesting birds it makes sense because it had to be done and they can’t do it when the ground is saturated. It takes a long time to dry out so at that point I wasn’t alarmed.<\/li>\n
- Late summer of 2017: BRMBR announced that they changed their mind about replacing the structure that summer and would do it later. Hmmm, was this beginning to sound like poor planning at the expense of nesting birds and visitors to the refuge?<\/li>\n
- Late spring of 2018: BRMBR announced that the structure would be replaced that summer so Unit 2 would be dry once again. And this time they actually did it, replacing it with the new structure in the photo above. But birds lost another nesting season and visitors to the refuge could see relatively few birds.<\/li>\n
- Early summer of 2019: BRMBR announced that Unit 2 would be drained for the third summer in a row, this time for phragmites control (burning, cattle grazing, spraying etc).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Yup, now my alarms couldn’t be ignored. Why the delays with the structure? Did the refuge take full advantage of the two times they previously dried out Unit 2 to replace the structure to also work on controlling the phrags? If not, why not? By now I wanted some answers.<\/p>\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/long-billed-dowitcher-1098-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"long-billed-dowitcher-1098-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\nThis is what Unit 2 looked like on August 17, 2016 and in previous years before it had been drained three consecutive summers. Birds were usually found here in high numbers and often parts of Unit 2 were almost saturated with them as we see here. The largest numbers of birds in the middle background are Long-billed Dowitchers but other birds present also included Snowy Egrets, American White Pelicans, White-faced Ibis, American Avocets, Black-necked Stilts, various duck species, shorebirds, waders and others.<\/p>\n
Many of my very best photos have been taken at this very spot including…<\/p>\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/western-grebe-1704-not-rotated-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"western-grebe-1704-not-rotated-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\nmost of my best photos of back brooding Western and Clark’s grebes and many of my favorite Tundra Swan, American Avocet and Black-necked Stilt shots. Followers of my blog may remember that this photo was published by National Geographic.<\/p>\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/southeast-corner-unit-2-bear-river-mbr.jpg\" "\\"southeast-corner-unit-2-bear-river-mbr\\"")
<\/p>\nBut this is what that very same spot on Unit 2 looked like yesterday, almost exactly three years later to the day. Unit 2 is overgrown with vegetation and it’s dry as a bone. That’s the difference water makes.<\/p>\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/carp-bear-river-mbr-9150-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"carp-bear-river-mbr-9150-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\nAbout the only other areas with water on Unit 2 are low spots, often near bridges. Here we see one spot on the south end of the unit where there’s enough water (barely) to keep…<\/p>\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/carp-at-bear-river-mbr-9161-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"carp-at-bear-river-mbr-9161-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\nhundreds of huge invasive carp alive. Carp add another layer of headaches to the challenges of managing the refuge because their feeding activities damage emergent vegetation, cloud the water and seriously disrupt the natural systems. At least the reduction in carp numbers is a positive effect of draining various units at the refuge.<\/p>\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/cows-at-bear-river-mbr-9117-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"cows-at-bear-river-mbr-9117-ron-dudley\\"")
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