Blue Goose ~ Day 261

February 12, 2015 ~ Stuttgart, AR to Russellville, AR

A sign in the motel offered to "Pluck Your Ducks" at $4 per. They picked up in the evening and dropped off the next morning. There was also an option re the duck breast which I've already forgotten.

Not far from Stuttgart is Cache River NWR....

WWW.FWS.GOV

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 28, 2005
( WASHINGTON) – Responding to the dramatic rediscovery of the Ivory-billed woodpecker at the Cache River National Wildlife Refuge in Arkansas, Interior Secretary Gale Norton and Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns today announced a multi-year, multi-million-dollar partnership effort to aid the rare bird’s survival. The bird has been thought to be extinct in the United States for more than 60 years.
“This is a rare second chance to preserve through cooperative conservation what was once thought lost forever,” Norton said. “Decisive conservation action and continued progress through partnerships are now required. I will appoint the best talent in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and local citizens to develop a Corridor of Hope Cooperative Conservation Plan to save the Ivory-billed woodpecker.” 

The “Corridor of Hope” refers to the Big Woods of Arkansas, an area about 120 miles long and up to 20 miles wide in eastern Arkansas where the Ivory-billed woodpecker has been sighted.

The Interior Department, along with the Department of Agriculture, has proposed that more than $10 million in federal funds be committed to protect the bird. This amount would supplement $10 million already committed to research and habitat protection efforts by private sector groups and citizens, an amount expected to grow once news of the rediscovery spreads. Federal funds will be used for research and monitoring, recovery planning and public education. In addition, the funds will be used to enhance law enforcement and conserve habitat through conservation easements, safe-harbor agreements and conservation reserves.

This was huge news and, while the IBWO(s) seen that spring are now generally believed not to have been IBWOs, most birders have hope they are deep in some swamp...somewhere....can almost visualize the flashing white wings....

I drove into the first Cache River access road that I passed to see this information at the kiosk:

Cache River NWR - AR

The river is formed by a "confluence of agricultural ditches" in southeastern corner of Missouri and then runs south through Arkansas roughly parallel to the much large White River which it joins before the White enters the Mississippi River.

The refuge office was a plain and humble converted farmhouse. Becky came out of her office (she does "budget all day") to talk with me, and was obviously happy to do so. She has worked 20+ years for the FWS and currently lives 40 miles away, necessitating an 80-mile daily commute, which she doesn't mind..."It gives me time to think..."

She was envious of my adventure, as I find many women are.

Of course I asked her about the excitement of a decade ago. She said that it WAS a crazy time....access to the refuge was closed for a time and birders were angry...all kinds of people showed up. She figured that if the birds were still around, someone would (by now) have unequivocal proof....yet she occasionally hears from people she totally respects that they have seen an Ivory-billed but are reluctant to report it. She said the inquisition that follows, with the assumption that the sighting was unreliable and not valid, makes people reluctant to come forward. No, she said, the locals never report anything. Really, "No one talks about it much anymore...."

She gave me a hug as I left, giving me information about other Arkansas refuges, her eyes twinkling, her smile sending me on my way.

Bald Knob NWR was formerly rice fields owned by the John Hancock Insurance Company who sold it to the government. It reminded me of the North Dakota refuges with its partially flooded fields and flat land. Dozens of meadowlarks were in the fields, and at least dozen Wilson's Snipe fed near the road on this early spring day. There is always a Northern Harrier or two cruising low over the land wherever I stop, their white rumps distinctive.

White-crowned Sparrows at Bald Knob NWR - AR

I stayed in a Flying J truck stop (which I actually like better than Walmart parking lots) but had a restless night as the stomach cramps kept me awake. I kept thinking I should probably go to a motel but it seemed too much effort. By morning, I was also feeling slightly nauseous and just wanted the sun to rise.