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Down By The Sloughs

rusty6

rusty6

Well-known Member
Location
East central Sask.
After last night's photo from up in the sky showing the sloughs on the land here I thought I might post one today from ground level. This one is by far the largest body of water on my brother's farm. It covers quite a few acres and stretches about half a mile. Hard to believe that all that water in the background was cultivated land in the late 80s-early 90s but I know it was because I did it. You can't see it but there was some impressive wave action on the water today from the extreme high winds we have had the past 3 days.
a161348.jpg
 
Rusty6- I've always wondered... "How do you pronounce 'Slough'?

Is it like 'tough', 'plow', 'slow', trough....etc?

thanks
 
So are they wet lands that can not be drained or how did they fill up? Sure looks like you could make some real nice fishing holes and invite your talers buddy's to come cast a line!
 
It must not be very deep if you farmed it. Don't the soil let the water soak away at all?
 
(quoted from post at 20:16:02 05/29/17) It must not be very deep if you farmed it. Don't the soil let the water soak away at all?
Click to expand...
My nephews recently had a flat bottom boat out on the big slough (pronounced slew) in the background and would you believe they found over 8 feet of water in one spot?.
Drainage is not an easy option any time and especially now with new tougher restrictions on any type of drainage. Evaporation is the only way it disappears. The water table has been so high the past decade from high rainfall that it can't soak away. This is about the driest spring I've seen in quite a few years. Although I did find some muddy patches the first day of anhydrousing a few weeks back.
49235.jpg
 
Must be very very similar to my part of souhern Minnesota.

In he 1920s-1960s the counties put together drainage districts and dug county ditches, put in county tile where water would flow less, and drain out the water table to 3 feet or so. We farmers added on a lot of small tile to drain out outer fields.

As you say that all ends in the mid 1980s when the laws all came in, you can only drain stuff that has been farmed since then.

But my farm I guess looked just like that back in the 1950s, when th ditch came through.

Paul
 
The Sloughs fill up from snow melt and rain. My nephew farms in slough country. If anyone tries to drain a slough, the nasty watchdogs get the feds after the farmer; the fines are horrendous! It's wild duck habitat, don't you know?
 
...So what happens if I wanna be selective and only allow domesticated ducks?? :wink:

I can understand protecting a wetlands area that has always been wetlands, but what Rusty6 was saying, how he used to work that very land but now can't, that's just insane! So what changed? Was it always wetlands and was drained in order to work it? Or has it just become wetter over time?

I've been told by folks who grew up in this house that the water table never used to be this high. I tend to believe that, as there are many empty concrete basements in the woods around us - what's now DNR or Nature Conservancy land. With rivers changing over time and beavers doing their thing, a landowner almost seems up the proverbial creek if their once-dry land starts getting wetter.
 
Reminds me of a slew a few miles south of where I grew up. Was in a river bottom surrounded by cat tails over you're head, water was clear and used to catch big bullheads and carp.
 
(quoted from post at 06:02:44 05/30/17) ...So what happens if I wanna be selective and only allow domesticated ducks?? :wink:

I can understand protecting a wetlands area that has always been wetlands, but what Rusty6 was saying, how he used to work that very land but now can't, that's just insane! So what changed? Was it always wetlands and was drained in order to work it? Or has it just become wetter over time?
Click to expand...
Yes, we just kept getting torrential downpours that filled up the sloughs. Lots of winter snow runoff. The most annoying thing is to hear Ducks Unlimited preaching on how we need to save our wetlands. They need to watch this video I shot in June of 2014.
https://youtu.be/a0DYzrMr7lE
 
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