Dalby Wildlife Area

One of Kansas’ newest public lands is the 1600-acre Dalby Wildlife Area south of Atchison along the Missouri River. Like nearby Benedictine Bottoms, this is a US Army Corps of Engineers mitigation site. The Corps owns the land, but licenses it to Kansas Wildlife & Parks to manage for public use. Kansas wildlife and parks Public Lands Manager Kirk Thompson explains why Dalby provides unusual opportunities. “Dalby Wildlife Area is unique because very rarely do we get an opportunity to start with a bare wildlife area that’s all agricultural ground and be able to develop it from scratch.” Currently, Dalby is cropped in corn and soybeans, with miles of riparian timber bordering the Missouri River. The area is also bisected by the perennial Walnut Creek, providing more timber habitat. The farm ground will be converted to wetlands wildlife habitat through construction set to begin this year. Three long chutes will be dug through the area, representing about 4 miles of live water that will feed the newly created wetlands. But several challenges face the new area. “There still isn’t any access to Dalby. The railroad tracks are the major hurdle. We’re going to put in two parking lots, but the problem is right now, we can’t get across the railroad tracks. There’s not any public access across the railroad tracks, but we are working on that.” To add to the intrigue, a couple of possible sunken steamboats may lie on the area. “Corps of engineers moved in about a week ago and they’re digging for a steamship. There was a steamship that sank a number of years ago and it’s right in line with a chute that we’re about to dig, and the Corps of Engineers wanted to do a test hole to see if they could find the ship. Pre-settlement commerce along the river saw numerous supply vessels sunk in the treacherous Missouri river, and these were covered by siltation in the changing river channel over time. It’s believed that two steamboats may be buried on the Dalby area. So mission 1 is to make sure that no historical artifacts are disturbed by area construction. The adjacent Missouri river provides a ready source of water for wetlands and attracts a great variety of wildlife to Dalby. In time, this area should become an important habitat and recreational use area for the state of Kansas. I’m Mike Blair for Kansas Wildlife and Parks.