As portions of Benton Lake dry out, habitat improves

(AP) — Anyone who is used to going to Benton Lake National Wildlife Refuge to look at birds will notice a marked difference this year.

While it may seem counterintuitive, allowing parts of the refuge to dry out actually benefits migrating birds and other wildlife, refuge manager Rob Bundy explained.

Lake many natural wetlands, Benton Lake was often dry, depending on precipitation and runoff levels.

Like many wildlife refuges throughout the nation, Benton Lake was originally established as a refuge and breeding grounds for migratory birds.

Early staff recognized that water was the limiting component to meeting waterbird production targets, so in the early 1960s, a pump was constructed on the Muddy Creek drainage to bring water from the Fairfield Bench to the refuge.

An extensive series of levees and water control structures were constructed to divide the area into units.

[...] Benton Lake would be a seasonal wetland, but the addition of pumping and irrigation created a more permanent wetland.

Flooding a unit to the same level year after year cuts down on the biodiversity of the plant life in the area and gives birds less to feed on.

When water seeps down into that shale, it picks up selenium and then comes out of the ground in saline seeps within the refuge.