Ducks headed home for another year

Waterfowl need moist-soil areas for safe return trip

By Randy Zellers

AGFC Communications

A small triangle of land totaling about 90 acres, Lake Pickthorne Waterfowl Rest Area inside Holland Bottoms Wildlife Management Area outside Jacksonville, plays a huge role in the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission’s moist-soil wetland habitat program. Jason “Buck” Jackson, the AGFC’s statewide wetlands program coordinator, said. “It’s important to me since we don’t have any other ‘primo’ moist-soil communities close to that (western) side of the (Arkansas) Delta.

Cypress Bayou WMAup in Beebe, a little more northeast, would be the closest.” Jackson defines “primo” as a highproducing food unit for the migrating birds.

Jackson says that all the moist-soil units across the east-central portion of the state tie together to provide food and habitat for migrating waterfowl. In recent days the moist-soil units on Holland Bottoms’ rest area has seen thousands of ducks. While no hunting of any kind is allowed on the rest area between Nov.

1-Feb. 15, the rest of the WMAis huntable, and the chance of ducks coming off the rest area to search for other nearby landing spots presents good potential for waterfowl hunters.