Duck hunting areas might temporarily close

Biologists need to burn phragmites this fall — possibly during the hunt.

— Related story: More ducks!

If you like to hunt ducks and geese at Ogden Bay or Farmington Bay, there's a page you should visit on the DWR Web site this fall — wildlife.utah.gov/burn.

Fire burns through phragmites at the Harold Crane Waterfowl Management Area in spring 2007.

Photo by Randy Berger, Utah DWR

If the conditions are right, biologists will burn plants called phragmites at both of the waterfowl management areas (WMAs) this fall.

The WMAs will be closed on the days the burns occur.

The Utah DWR will post information online about when the burns will happen as soon as it's available.

In addition to the Web site, you can also receive Twitter updates about the burns. You can receive the updates by signing up at twitter.com/DWRburn.

Improving the marsh

Division of Wildlife Resources biologists would like to burn phragmites at the Ogden Bay WMA two times this fall. They'd also like to do one burn at the Farmington Bay WMA.

Both WMAs are in northern Utah.

The burns would happen on weekdays. The WMA supervisor would close the gates to the WMA the night before the burn occurred.

The gates would remain closed on the day of the burn. The public would not be allowed to enter the WMA.

"To keep people safe, we need to close the WMAs on the days the burns occur," says Randy Berger, wetlands coordinator for the DWR.

Phragmites burn is just getting underway at the Harold Crane Waterfowl Management Area in spring 2007.

Photo by Randy Berger, Utah DWR

"We wish we didn't have to burn during the hunting season, but the weather threw several curveballs at us this year."

Conditions must be just right

Every fall, DWR biologists spray phragmites on the state's WMAs.

Phragmites is an aggressive, nonnative plant that's taken over parts of many of Utah's marsh areas. Phragmites crowd out the native marsh plants that provide birds with food and places to nest.

After spraying phragmites in the fall, the biologists give the chemicals time to work. Then in the spring, they return to the areas they sprayed and burn them.

Several weather, wind and air-quality factors have to be just right before a burn can happen. Unfortunately, those conditions didn't come together this past spring or this past summer. The only alternative biologists have now is to try to burn the areas during the hunting season this fall.

"If we don't burn the areas this fall, the phragmites will recover from the spraying we did last fall," Berger says.

Biologists usually know about 12 hours before a burn whether conditions will allow it to occur. However, the conditions can change, and a burn can be cancelled at the last minute. "That's why it's important to sign up for the Twitter updates and to visit wildlife.utah.gov/burn regularly," Berger says.

For more information, call the DWR's Northern Region office at (801) 476-2740.