(Caption: My retired retriever Valentine at Mayberry on a good day.)
It’s the last Saturday of the 2007/2008 duck season and my truck is loaded, my dogs are ready to go and all I’ve got left to do is pick up some groceries on the way to our club.
I normally get out sooner on the last weekend, but social events happen and being ready to go at daylight is not the priority it used to be. Tomorrow’s the last day. The last day of the season, always a bitter-sweet experience because the hunting should be good, but it’s the last day.
And this year is the last, last day for Mayberry Farms as we know it.
Twelve years ago we sold the club and received a very fair price from the State of California. We did well. We also received the right to lease the club back for ten years and the not only that, but the state has also extended the lease on a year-by-year basis so we continue to hunt. Not only that but, they are extending the offer for another year.
So why is it the last “last day”?
It could be a long story, but I’ll keep it as short as possible. The current Delta “crisis” is subsidence. Subsidence is caused by oxidation of the ground. As the Delta levees oxidize, they shrink and need to be rebuilt. Not only are the levees oxidizing, but also the agricultural ground behind the levees. They are sinking deeper and deeper below sea level.
In an effort to offset this problem, scientists have discovered that covering the ground with water seals out the oxygen and prevents, or at least significantly reduces, oxidation. Mayberry Farms will be a prototype for a possible solution.
A berm will be built around the property and it will be flooded year round so that 97% of the ground is covered with water. It will be flooded to also provide habitat for waterfowl, but it will be a totally different type of marsh. It will change from a seasonal marsh, that mostly benefits waterfowl in winter, to a permanent marsh that will provide spring and summer habitat and loafing areas, but the marsh will no longer attract waterfowl as a major source of food.
I’m trying to look at this as a possible “win win” situation, but I keep having visions of the property as it is now, and I can imagine destroying all the valuable wildlife habitat that’s been created.
Ducks Unlimited is the contractor on the project. Thay have no say in the decision making process. I keep hoping that somebody will call the project off, or move it so it inundates a cow pasture. Maybe they’ll run out of money. I’ll keep my fingers crossed.
My father used to own the ranch right accross from your club on the other side of Mayberry Slough. Its a shame that the State is destroying your club. It looks like you’ve created some really nice duck habitat. I know what its like to have the State come in and take over - I missed out on a whole lifetime of hunting on Sherman because of it.