Alternative 4 Released for Review, Comment
A new preferred alternative, Alternative 4, for the Swan Lake NWR Comprehensive Conservation Plan is now available for review and comment.
Click here to download the project update
Important Update! Friday, July 16, 2010
Our voices have been heard! Officials with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service announced today that the Service will prepare a new alternative for future management. The video below was released early this afternoon summarizing the announcement. Additional information can be found on the Swan Lake National Wildlife Refuge Comprehensive Conservation Plan web page.
Thanks to everyone who took the time to contact the FWS and their elected representatives about this important issue. It appears as though our voices have been heard. But we are not out of the woods yet. Please continue to closely monitor this situation. Details about the new alternative will be provided on this website as they become available.
SUMNER, Missouri (June 17, 2010) -The US Fish and Wildlife service is proposing to drain Silver Lake . Silver Lake provides an opportunity for all to fish, is an excellent source of water for migrating waterfowl and is the reservoir of water used to flood the rest of the Swan Lake complex. Historical data shows it is dangerous to assume seasonal rainfall will be sufficient in all or most years to provide the needed water to flood this important Refuge complex during the migration despite the recent few years abundance of precipitation. Migrating waterfowl need water, not just food. It is abundantly clear to anyone who has witnessed migratory birds at Swan Lake National Wildlife Refuge (SLNWR) that Swan Lake itself (meaning the body of water called Swan Lake) holds few birds because it is a poor source of food for them containing mostly cattails and bulrush. The birds focus on the intensely managed moist soil areas and flooded trees/buttonbush (cover and invertebrates) and opportunistic moist soil areas. Moist soil units are the areas flooded by Silver Lake every fall…for free. Not to mention the incredible number of geese, ducks, pelicans and other birds that find refuge on Silver in the Fall/Spring of the year.
The US Fish and Wildlife service is recommending that Silver Lake be drained for the allowance of natural food sources (emergent plants) to grow for migrating waterfowl and shorebirds. Currently there are 130,000 acres of WRP in Missouri, 28,000 acres of that being in Chariton County. In other words, there is already a large base of natural and diverse food sources for migrating birds, including shorebirds and non-waterfowl; snakes and amphibians. Draining Silver Lake is not going to make a significant impact in that respect. These WRP areas however cannot provide REFUGE for waterfowl. They are not big enough in size and are often hunted by private landowners. There are no other lakes in Chariton County like Silver Lake in terms of size and depth. WRP tracts are excellent for all migrating waterfowl but not adequate for providing waterfowl refuge, which is the core mission of Swan Lake National Wildlife Refuge.
It is a false statement that the areas surrounding Swan Lake National Wildlife Refuge are mostly agricultural and that is why this proposal is desirable. Everything to the West, South and a good portion of the Northeast is either WRP or wooded. The Missouri Department of Natural Resources has 3500 acres of naturalized and functionally unmanaged wilderness area in Pershing State Park. This area is in extremely close proximity to SLWR and is another example of preexisting and non-agricultural diversity in the area.
Draining Silver Lake and turning it into another poor food source like the Swan Lake itself (bulrushes and cattails), is a depletion of current resources. The agricultural fields at SLNWR provide another source of diversity for the wildlife at this complex. It allows the public an opportunity to view deer and other wildlife they would not see in their absence. This proposed 15 year Comprehensive Conservation Plan (CCP) is a recipe for economic meltdown for this area. Many businesses rely upon the migration of seasonal waterfowl hunters to support the local economy. Landowners have invested in this area because of its historic management of the SLNWR as a waterfowl refuge as mandated by Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1937.
Perhaps the US Fish and Wildlife Service could evaluate the current problems Silver Lake faces, without making its siltation issues someone else’s problem downstream when they cut the dam. Missourians and conservationists should encourage the FWS to focus its efforts on improving the conditions of Silver Lake. Some great ideas have been proposed: improving the depth through dredging, managing the lake as a multi-pool system with draw-down in certain areas while maintaining a guaranteed reservoir of water based on scientifically calculated volume needs, construction of islands to reduce wave action and create terrestrial habitat, creating siltation basins in the tributaries that feed Silver Lake.
Eliminating the lake is a terrible waste of this asset. Draining it would cost more money, provided less diversity, lose the fishing opportunities for all, and most importantly lose the valuable option of FREE water for migratory birds in a dry Fall. Silver lake is an asset to the public and to this complex.
We feel that of the three currently proposed alternatives, Alternative 1 (no change) is the best option for the local communities and for the migratory birds and wildlife that call SLWR home.
