[MASSBIRD] Parker River NWR Impoundments Part 2

[Rick Nok]

So I listened to refuge biologist Nancy Pau on the zoom presentation make the claim that the ground level has sunk slightly inside the impoundments. She claimed that this is a problem because the water control structures are too high (even after admitting they already lowered the Forward control gates) and that means they are unable to pump out the water to create flats for migrant shorebirds in the summer and fall.

This is demonstrably false. The problem every year is that they tend to drain out TOO MUCH water each summer from Forward and Stage, which, combined with the usual dry or drought conditions in July and August, means that the water levels are usually TOO LOW and the flats TOO DRY for ideal shorebird usage. Obviously then there is no problem lowering the water levels. This year, with a lot of summer rainfall, has been the exception, and the flats at Forward and Stage have been ideal.

The slightly lower ground levels in these impoundments compared to decades ago, therefore, is a complete non-issue, and the claim that they are unable to lower the water levels because of it is demonstrably false. It is simply not true. The facts and the history demonstrate that that is the case.

Rick Heil
Peabody, MA

Sent from my iPhone