Page 13 - September/October Outdoor Oklahoma Magazine

through those cracks and head down through the clay toward the aqui-
fer below.”
As the clay absorbs water, it expands and seals the cracks, and the
basin then fills with water from rainfall and runoff. Recharge contin-
ues to occur along the playa’s perimeters as long as it is submerged in As water moves through the
water, much like water running over a bowl’s lip. playa’s clay floor, a second
Playas that are healthy and unaltered also improve water quality com- cleaning process occurs as
pared to water that goes going through other pathways.
This happens in two ways. First, as rainfall and runoff travel toward the soils beneath the playa
the playa, the surrounding grasses trap sediments, which can carry con- remove nitrates and other
taminants into the playa. Then, as water moves through the playa’s clay
floor, a second cleaning process occurs as the soils beneath the playa dissolved contaminants .

remove nitrates and other dissolved contaminants.

BIODIVERSITY BOOSTERS

Playas also serve as the center of biodiversity on the plains, support-
ing about 185 bird species, 450 plant species, 13 amphibian species, WESTON STORER/ODWC
and 37 mammal species. These ephemeral lakes are almost magi-
cal, said Tom Flowers, a retired district conservationist with the U.S.
Department of Agriculture in Meade, Kan.
“They can be dry for 15 or 20 years, have a rainfall event, and imme-
diately within days, perennial plants show up. They’ve lain dormant
beneath the ground for all these years, but as soon as that soil becomes
moist, they shoot up and produce bulrush, cattails, mud plantain,
spikerush, and a host of plants.”
That surge of plant life is just part of the process. Flowers is fascinat-
ed by the small creatures that wake up, too.
Playas holding water, like this one in Oklahoma’s
“They fall down in the cracks when it’s dry, and they just lay there Panhandle, provide important stopover locations for
migrating birds.
as eggs. As soon as it gets wet, within just a few days, the eggs hatch,
they grow, and they become small invertebrates such as fairy shrimp,
tadpole shrimp, clam shrimp, and snails.”
This flush of plant and animal life is irresistible to local and migrating CHRISTOPHER RUSTAY/COURTESY PLJV
birds, providing a veritable feast in short order.
A diverse assortment of migrating birds use wetlands, including pla-
yas, as rest stops. “You’ll see a lot of the shorebirds that are making very
long-distance migrations: white-rumped sandpiper, semipalmated sand-
piper, Baird’s sandpiper, and American golden-plover, said Susan Skagen,
a retired research wildlife biologist with the USGS. “They go right through
the heart of the plains. It’s the shortest distance from Tierra del Fuego,
which is how far some of them actually fly from, all the way up to the arctic.
“Many of these birds eat the small little animals in playas,” Flowers
Playas provide critical wetland habitat for Northern
said. “So, even though playas don’t hold water very long, they’re abso- pintails and other migrating birds.
lutely critically important for migratory birds, and also our summer and
resident birds for nesting and feeding.”
It’s as if playas are the town square for wildlife, she said. “Not only birds,
but bison, raccoons, coyotes, deer, everything comes to have a drink.”

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