If you’re a veteran of
Grand
Lake, the Labor Day holiday
doesn’t just signal the enjoyment of the last major holiday of the summer
season. It also annually unveils one of our lake’s most talked about and
discussed mysteries. Unless you’re oblivious to your surroundings, you
probably are one again mystified as to why the lake is at its lowest level
of the year.
It has happened year-in and year-out since
1992 to allow for the seeding of Japanese millet in the mud flats to
benefit migratory Ducks and Geese. What started out as a five year trial,
lobbied for by people associated with wildlife conservation, during the
Grand River Dam Authority’s re-licensing in 1990 became a permanent part
of the license in conjunction with an amended rule curve change in 1997.
At best, a very poorly conceived plan was made worse by making it
permanent without any independent analysis of its results.
The track record of a program, which the
wildlife people claim is to provide nourishment to migratory water foul
while others believe it’s just a way of concentrating these birds for
slaughter by hunters, is a disaster. Due to
Oklahoma’s unpredictable weather, and did I say
Japanese millet is not native to
Oklahoma; the seeding effort has mostly
resulted in failure over the past thirteen years. Either it was the
oppressive
Oklahoma heat wiping out the intended
result or, sometime during the sixty day period the lake is maintained at
the 741’ level for germination, a rising lake level from heavy fall rains
would be the culprit.
Some informed sources tell us it’s outdated
mid eighties philosophy and there are better ways out there to address the
well being of the migratory birds. Some have even told us
the wildlife department is split on the issue.
Grand
Lake doesn’t even reside on a
defined migratory flyway, but it’s annually one of the top fishing lakes
in the nation as demonstrated this summer by being selected to host the
Elite 100 Bass Master’s Tournament. And guess what? Thanks to a great
lake, which provides a wonderful fishing opportunity, and the Grand Lake
Association, they already are making plans to return next year.
The rub within the wildlife community is
that while the program benefits the water fowl it’s detrimental to the
current year’s spawned fish fry. The newly hatched crop of fish hide from
predators in the plant growth along the shoreline of Grand Lake, but when
the lake is rapidly dropped for millet seeding a by product is the
destruction of some important fish fry habitat. So what make’s the ducks
more important
Grand
Lake stakeholders, not to
mention the humans, than the fish? Isn’t it time to bring some common
sense into the equation? If the humans on this lake have no status as
stakeholders, let’s join up with the fish to put a merciful death to a bad
ideal and find a better way to deal with the ducks. So you say what now?
Grand Lakers United Enterprise is
announcing plans to petition the Grand River Dam Authority and the Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission to find an alternative to the existing millet
seeding program. We’re hopeful that thousands of Grand Lakers will join us
in this effort by signing our petition to raise the minimum
Grand
Lake level to an elevation of
742’ although 743” would even be better. The petition will focus on the
positives of removing boating safety issues, dock problems for both
commercial and residential lake users when the elevation is dropped and
bringing about an alternative plan to really benefit migratory water fowl.
See Ya’ Around The
Pond!
