Great Bend Post

GREAT BEND -If hunters were worried about a lack of place to hide at Cheyenne Bottoms they do not have to be concerned anymore.

The wetlands northeast of Great Bend has received its fair share of rain and caused a large amount of vegetation and cattail weeds to grow.

The moisture has also caused a large amount of phragmites, a large grass, to sprout up throughout Cheyenne Bottoms.

Wildlife Manager Karl Grover said this aggressive wetland grass can take over a marsh and has become a serious nuisance to wetlands across the country.

A helicopter service from Ulysses sprayed herbicide this year rather than an airplane.

“For one it is a lot more precise in where they place the herbicide,” said Grover. “An airplane moves a lot faster and this firm is the only one in the state certified to apply herbicide over water.

Since the pools have so much water, it has made it impossible to drive the tractors to spray the herbicide this year.

Post Rock Wind Energy, the company responsible for the wind turbines north of Ellsworth, were required by the Fishing and Wildlife Services to mitigate against the possibility of whooping cranes flying into their structures.

Post Rock contacted Cheyenne Bottoms to use their mitigation funds. The majority of the expense for the helicopter spraying is coming from those mitigation funds.