22 www.TheFarmerStockman.com
September 2008
Natural Resources
Stewards guard
Texas lake from
invasive plants
By ANDI COOPER
P
Quail shares cotton traits
WILDLIFE
BY
DESIGN
By DR. DALE ROLLINS
“Farming looks mighty easy
when your plow is a pencil and
you’re a thousand miles from
the cornfield.”
— Dwight D. Eisenhower
Y
EARS ago I was asked to
speak on quail management in Roby in Fisher
County, Texas. The group wasn’t
very large, and I wasn’t very
well-prepared, so I scribbled
some ideas down on a napkin.
My approach was to compare and contrast two important crops in Fisher County:
cotton and quail.
One is King (in Texas, at
least); the other a budding
prince (as in prince of all game
birds). So I scrambled to identify some common denominators.
I spoke of how both are weak
perennials but managed as annuals. And that — while I’ve
spent time harvesting both —
somehow a shotgun always fit
my hand better than a pitchfork
(i.e., most of my time was spent
in a cotton trailer “tramping”
cotton).
Similar but different
Cotton farmers and quail
hunters perish or prosper at
the whims of the weather, perhaps more than any other agro-
Key Points
■ Both cotton farmers and quail
hunters depend on weather.
■ Cotton, quail can benefit from
Integrated Pest Management.
■ Considering the perils, a cotton
or quail crop is amazing.
nomic or hunting group.
Surely both have benefited
from technology (e.g., Roundup
Ready cotton and boll weevil
eradication in cotton’s case;
brush sculpting for quail), but
nature still has the last deal.
Hope springs eternal in both.
Insects are primary considerations, albeit for different
reasons — a bane to the farmer
while a boon to quail broods.
One manager seeks to simplify the vegetation (e.g., control the weeds), while the other
appreciates a diverse plant
community (as plant diversity
goes, so goes insect diversity).
I’ve seen flushed quail from
cotton stalks in December
whose crops were full of weevils, and I’ve seen a quail die
after a cotton field was sprayed
with parathion. Both cotton
and quail can benefit from the
adoption of Integrated Pest
Management philosophies.
Both are especially vulnerable as seedlings (chicks). We
tend to coax them out of their
respective shells and hit the
ground running. And we toil to
get them through their teenager years, armed with hoe or
cultivator (in cotton’s case),
or screening cover (in quail’s
case).
Cotton and quail also face
an often hostile environment:
flooding one day and windblown sand the next. A hailstorm can dash the hopes of
the landowner on a local basis.
Indeed, when one considers just how many perils
await them, you can’t help but
be amazed when we have a
bumper crop of either.
The harvest
When November comes (at
least here on the Rolling Plains),
both parties seek a harvest aid.
It may be a defoliant, a killing
frost or a brace of setters. One
rides a stripper, while another
may sit atop a (Kawasaki)
mule.
Historically, there was a
bond between the farmer and
his pair of mules; that bond still
runs deep between the nimrod
and his pointers.
A “bale per acre” (for dryland cotton) or a “quail per
acre” is a good management
goal. And a good year for dryland cotton is generally a good
year for quail.
And lastly, both quail and
cotton are steeped in heritage
and celebrated in song.
Perhaps you can recite Tex
Ritter singing “The Ballad of
the Boll Weevil,” Buck Owens
and others pining on “Them
Old Cotton Fields Back Home,”
and the Everly Brothers’ “Bird
Dog.”
I’ve got the music in me, and
here in another two months,
may well be belting out
“Shotgun Boogie.”
Rollins is Texas AgriLife
Extension wildlife specialist at
San Angelo.
ARTNERS in good
stewardship are saving
a lake in Texas.
In fact, the Cypress Valley
Navigation District held a
recent celebration on Caddo
Lake to thank the partners
for their aid in controlling nonnative vegetation
that has been a continuous
plague on the lake.
Ducks Unlimited, through
a partnership with Syngenta,
has provided $20,000 of
aquatic herbicide to assist in
the campaign against giant
salvinia and water hyacinth.
In addition, the Texas Parks
and Wildlife Department was
lauded for its donation of an
airboat for use with the herbicide treatments as well.
Continuous battle
“We are in a continuous battle
with giant salvinia and water
hyacinth out here on the
lake,” says Kevin Herriman,
Northeast Texas Ecosystem
Project leader for TPWD.
“Being able to deal with this
challenge takes a team effort
with both public and private
organizations, such as DU
and Syngenta. We hope to
continue to work together
to combat invasive plants on
Caddo Lake and elsewhere.”
Herriman says the project
took a united effort.
This included work of
Texas legislators.
Judge Richard Anderson
recognized state Sen. Kevin
Eltiffe, along with state Reps.
Bryan Hughes and Stephen
Frost, for continued support
of conservation efforts at
Caddo Lake.
Eltiffe notes his ability to
gain support in Austin for
efforts like restoring Caddo
Lake is enhanced through a
vibrant partnership of local,
regional, private and public
interests.
Herbicide donation
“The herbicides donated by
Syngenta to spray infestations of giant salvinia and
water hyacinth will go a long
way towards helping the
partnership be successful,”
says Keith McKnight, DU
regional biologist. “Caddo
Lake is a designated Wetland
of International Importance
Key Points
■ Good stewards partnered to
save Caddo Lake.
■ Giant salvinia can double its
growth in two to 10 days.
■ Herbicides for giant salvinia
and water hyacinth are used.
that provides vital habitat for
waterfowl and other wildlife
in East Texas. We are glad DU
can be part of the effort.”
Giant salvinia is a nonnative and invasive aquatic fern
from South America.
The plant has had catastrophic impacts on aquatic
ecosystems on several continents but only recently
reached Caddo Lake in Texas
in 2006. It spreads quickly by
vegetative growth, and small
pieces of the plant rapidly
produce more plants. With its
ability to double its numbers
in just two to 10 days — and
the habit of producing mats
of up to 2 feet thick — giant
salvinia
can
completely
cover waterways and prevent
the passage of sunlight and
oxygen that native plants,
fish, insects and other species require.
“It can essentially kill a
body of water,” McKnight
explains. “It makes lakes and
streams look more like putting greens, and it eliminates
or greatly impairs lake-related opportunities including
boating, fishing and hunting.”
In order to effectively
combat giant salvinia infestations on Caddo Lake, managers must also treat water
hyacinth. The water hyacinth serves as a very effective hiding spot for the fern.
Because the effective herbicides for water hyacinth are
ineffective against giant salvinia, combinations of herbicides must be used.
With more than a million
supporters, Ducks Unlimited
is the world’s largest wetland
and waterfowl conservation
organization with almost 12
million acres conserved.
Cooper is with Ducks
Unlimited.
Editor’s note: Caddo Lake
was the only natural lake in
Texas until it was artificially
dammed in the early 1900s.
A new dam replaced the old
one in 1971.