25 October 2023
HUTCHINSON, Kan. (KSNW) – A popular fishing pond in Hutchinson will not be stocking trout next month like they usually do, as the Dillon Nature Center Pond is at the lowest level it’s been in years.
The cracked ground and shallow water have the pond looking more like a puddle. The pond has been slowly drying up for a while, but over the summer, things took a sharp turn for the worse.
The colorful leaves and crisp air are a big draw for visitors of the Dillon Nature Center this time of year. Despite the normal autumn color palette, this year, something is different.
“I’ve never seen it this low. This is the first year I’ve ever even seen the bottom of the pond,” said visitor Shelbi Hall.
Hall has been visiting the pond with her kids for years. Normally, this time of year, fishermen line the body of water.
“There were a ton of catfish here, and the catfish were maybe a pound, two pound when we would come visit a couple of years ago,” said Hall.
There were no fishing rods in sight on Wednesday.
“I’ve only been here five years, and this has been the worst I’ve seen it, but many people that have been coming for years and years have never seen it this low, so this is pretty record-setting,” said John Gallagher, Director of Dillon Nature Center.
Gallagher says the pond is fed by a natural spring, and the nature center has no way of filling it up.
“I think the water table has been slowly lowering, meaning the input from that spring has been getting slowly less and less, and now it’s barely anything,” he said.
The pond is normally stocked with catfish in the summer and trout in the fall.
“Obviously, we’re not gonna stock it with trout this year, so we’ll lose out on some visitors, fishermen,” said Gallagher.
Gallagher says, as far as he’s aware, it’s the first time the nature center has held off on stocking fish.
Hall says that’s what she’s most worried about.
“The fish! The fish! We love fishing in our family. We love fishing all week long, all summer long, and we didn’t get to fish that much this year,” said Hall.
Gallagher says he doesn’t expect the pond to dry up completely, but he says this rain won’t do much to fill it up either.
Of course, the dried-up pond is a big disappointment for fishermen this year, but staff with the nature center say that what they’re most worried about is the waterfowl who rely on this pond.
Typically this time of year, they see birds resting on the pond during migration. The pond is so dry that staff at the nature center haven’t really seen the birds this season, and they don’t expect to. The bigger problem, though it’s not an isolated issue.
“If our pond is dry, a lot more in our area are also dry, so there’s a lot less habitat for migrating birds to stop at and rest,” said Gallagher.
Gallagher says it’s adding extra stress on birds during already hectic migration time.
One upside Gallagher says he has already seen other birds who typically don’t stop by the pond come by because they’re drawn by these mud flats.