Vandalism Cripples Waterfowl Habitat at Ed Gordon Point Remove WMA, Delays Flooding for Duck Season

BLACKWELL — Waterfowl hunters scouting Ed Gordon Point Remove Wildlife Management Area in Conway County will notice a significant lack of flooded habitat for ducks, shorebirds and other winter migrants during the early portion of the upcoming duck season. This habitat loss is the result of vandalism on the WMA’s water-delivery system.

Earlier this year, thieves stripped all copper wiring to the electric motor and variable frequency drive controls that operate a 200-horsepower pump that helps flood the WMA’s moist soil units. According to Alex Zachary, wildlife biologist for the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, 20 of the 23 moist-soil impoundments on the WMA are flooded with the aid of this pump and a 7-mile network of underground pipes to offer native seed-producing plants that are essential to waterfowl and other migrants during winter.

The theft was much more than a few wires and required extensive repairs. Every electrical component that gives the relift pump “life” was taken.

“They essentially stripped everything from the meter loop to the VFD and motor,” Zachary said. “They cut the wire so close to the motor itself that we had to have it pulled and rewound. And the VFD was completely gutted.”

Jason Jackson, AGFC statewide wetland renovation program coordinator, says the variable frequency drive operates much like the brain of the system.

“Electric relift pumps like this don’t have gears, so you have to have a way to control the motor’s torque and speed, that’s what a VFD does,” Jackson said. “These aren’t just something you can buy at the hardware store, they’re custom-built and tuned for the application.”

That custom work has delayed the replacement of the system, but AGFC staff are hopeful that they will have a running pump again by the opening of duck season.

“We’ve still lost a lot of time, as we’d normally be running that pump right now to flood the moist soil units on (Ed Gordon Point Remove WMA),” Zachary said. “We had to bid out the work, wait for bids to come in and then wait for the VFD to be built.”

Zachary said that all of the structures responsible for holding water on the WMA are in place, and the area should flood with sufficient rainfall, but the loss of habitat was much more than opening day water level.

“We have to irrigate and manipulate water levels on these moist-soil units throughout summer, and the pump wasn’t available for that,” Zachary said. “We were able to make some modifications to the irrigation lines and use a portable camel back pump to get some water out there during the hottest, driest part of summer, but it was nowhere near as efficient as the 200 hp electric relift pump and broke down after a few weeks of use.”

Last year, which was the first year the 200 hp pump was in operation, Jackson says the larger pump ran for months without shutting off, as long as there the nearby surface water source could provide water.

“We have to move a lot of water through this system, and once we turned the pump on in July, it was nearly constant,” Jackson said. “This year, we haven’t been able to pump for all that time.”

Jackson says the theft likely will result in more than $50,000 dollars in damage, but the lost habitat is even more painful.

“We know the landscape is pretty dry right now, and every acre of water and moist-soil habitat is important to the duck energy days Arkansas needs to produce to keep waterfowl populations healthy,” Jackson said. “With our need to adjust flooding schedules and variability in greentree reservoirs to improve regeneration of red oak forests, not being able to get water on our moist-soil units is pretty detrimental to food availability for ducks as they’re making their way down the flyway. We also know there’s much less waste grain available for waterfowl with modern farming practices, seed varieties and equipment, and moist-soil plants like what Ed Gordon offers are critical to the health of the birds during migration as well as for the trip home to nest and raise young.”

Jackson says anyone with information on the theft is encouraged to call the AGFC’s Enforcement Radio Room at 833-356-0824 or the Conway County Sheriff’s Office at 501-354-2411 or email tips@conwaycountysheriff.org.

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CUTLINES:

PUMP
Thieves stole all the copper necessary to feed ad manage electricity to the 200 hp pump at Ed Gordon Point Remove WMA earlier this year, delaying habitat work and flooding for duck season. AGFC image courtesy Alex Zachary.

DRY GROUND
Without the pump, most of the moist-soil unit acreage at Ed Gordon Point Remove WMA will need substantial rainfall to flood for winter. AGFC image courtesy Alex Zachary.

EMPTY BOX
In addition to copper wires that feed electricity to the pump, the entire variable frequency drive system was gutted and a replacement must be custom built. AGFC image courtesy Alex Zachary.