Photo courtesy of Arkansas Game and Fish Commission.
LITTLE ROCK The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission is accepting applications from rice field owners to enroll in its expanded Waterfowl Rice Incentive Conservation Enhancement program. Landowners may receive as much as $150 per acre annually while still maintaining the current production of rice fields. Applications are available at www.agfc.com/wrice and will be accepted until June 1.
Photo courtesy of Arkansas Game and Fish Commission.
To receive full payment for their contracts, landowners must follow post-harvest guidelines to maintain waterfowl habitat and allow wildlife viewing and limited permit-based hunts during waterfowl season on their properties. Rice fields within 10 miles of waterfowl-focused AGFC wildlife management areas and national wildlife refuges are eligible. Landowners with land already enrolled in the Wetland Reserve Easement program also can apply for additional funds if they are willing to allow pub
ST. GEORGE If you re thinking of visiting Gunlock Reservoir for its waterfalls this year, consider a change of plans.
For the last two years, the waterfalls that spilled out of Gunlock Reservoir flowed due to the high levels of melting snowpack present in the mountains at the time. This year, due to low snowpack, water levels at Gunlock aren t rising to the occasion as they have in previous years.
Around this time in 2019 and 2020, southwest Utah saw snowpacks of 190% and 120% of average respectively. As of April 12, 2021, the snowpack is at 32% of average, according to the National Resources Conservation Service.
The previous years high snowpack filled Gunlock and the county s other reservoirs to capacity or close to it. In Gunlock s case, this allowed excess water to spill over the reservoir s southern end and down into the Santa Clara River.
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While Idaho isn’t faring as badly as the Southwest, about a quarter of the state is experiencing some level of drought, with one epicenter in particular seeing extreme conditions.
“This is an ongoing long-term drought that started back in the Fall of 2019, and we just haven’t seen any kind of recovery there yet,” said
David Hoekema, a hydrologist for the Idaho Department of Water Resources. He spoke during the last water supply meeting of the winter season on Friday.
The month of March, Hoekema said, was very dry for the whole state, meaning most places have already seen peak snowpack, and it’s begun to melt several days earlier than normal.
Couple move from Oregon to Iowa hometown, start organic farm Follow Us
Question of the Day By MICHAELE NIEHAUS - Associated Press - Saturday, April 10, 2021
WEST BURLINGTON, Iowa (AP) - Nestled between shopping centers, row crops and car dealerships, an organic nonprofit farm is gearing up for its sixth growing season in an effort to combat hunger locally while teaching the community about food culture and sustainable farming practices.
As the weather warms and the threat of frost lessens, Mollie and Tobin Krell, who operate Homestead 1839 in West Burlington, will spend more and more time tending the roughly two acres of farmland, largely by hand.
The Arkansas River Basin has the best water supply outlook in the state with a streamflow volume forecast of 86 percent of average following recent storms that brought heavy snow accumulations to the eastern slope.
The Arkansas River Basin and the South Platte River basin had the largest gains in precipitation and snowpack in the state, ending March with above-median snowpack.
The Arkansas River Basin measured 126 percent of average precipitation for the month of March and is now 94 percent of average water year precipitation.
As of April 1, the snowpack for the Arkansas River Basin was at 110 percent of average, the highest in the state and an increase from the previous monthâs 90 percent.