SALEM, Ore. — Seasonal wetlands are drying up more quickly than usual as drought conditions persist in the Willamette Valley.
Several ponds at the Ankeny national wildlife refuge have gone dry this year, and Willamette Valley National Wildlife Refuge Complex project leader Damien Miller says it’s rare for that to happen so quickly, reported The Statesman Journal .
The dry ponds sparked concern about the Oregon chub, a fish taken off the endangered species list just this spring. Ankeny has the largest population of Oregon chub in the Willamette River Basin.
“Early on, we had heard there could be restrictions on irrigation,” said Miller. “But we’ve been able to maintain our irrigation waters to manage for that chub.”
Some species, like the red-logged frog, need the wetlands to breed. This year, red-legged frog tadpoles matured and left the area before the wetlands dried out, said Miller.
But, he said, “with all of the amphibians that use these wetlands, if we get into a long-term sequence of multiple dry years where wetlands are drying up before their breeding cycle is done, that would be detrimental to a lot of these species.”
Hot and dry conditions are also increasing wildfire danger.
A fire earlier this month at William L. Finley refuge near Corvallis burned several acres at Pigeon Butte, an area that is home to the endangered Fender’s Blue butterfly.
“It’s pretty unusual,” Miller said. “We don’t get a lot of fires here on the refuge.”
