Go-pher it

Go-pher it! Carlsbad Current-Argus By Maddy Hayden Looking for a bit of extra spending money this holiday season? Why not try your hand at gopher trapping, which will get you $6 a piece? The Carlsbad Soil and Water Conservation District offers $6 for each gopher tail brought in on the first Monday of every month as part of its gopher bounty program. This week, Judith McCollaum, who works in information and education in the district, sat eating her lunch and counting up tails during the monthly tail turn-in day. "We'll have a handful more this month," McCollaum said. "They save up their tails so they can buy their Christmas gifts." With an hour and a half left to turn in, McCollaum had counted 266 two or three inch, furry little gopher tails. There were dozens in a pickle jar filled with witch hazel and several more in small Ziploc baggies. "We'd really prefer if people brought them in in alcohol," McCollaum said, visibly cringing. Although the animals are small, the damage they can inflict to agricultural fields in the area is great. "Because of the salinity of the local water, flood irrigation is the only way farmers can go," said District Manager Judy Bock. The high levels of salt in area water corrodes irrigation spouts and pipes, making it not a cost efficient way to water crops, Bock said. In addition, the flooding method allows the salt to penetrate more deeply into the soil, and not sit near the plant roots. In order to facilitate flooding, dirt borders are built up around fields, acting as miniature dams for the water. Add a single gopher to the mix, and the results can be catastrophic. "When we have gophers tunnel under the borders, you lose all the water you were allotted," McCollaum said. Since the water is escaping under the ground, it's difficult to identify where the leak is. Eddy County Extension Agent Woods Houghton estimated that the loss can decrease irrigation efficiency in a field up to 70 percent. Houghton added that the rodents can also do damage to residential areas. "Gophers eat plant roots," he said. "Anything that's buried underground and they think is a root, they'll chew through." That can include electrical wiring and PVC pipe. Bock and McCollaum said the reasons for the bounty are many, and although some protest, it is a necessary program. "It's not like we're just doing it to be malicious to little furry critters," McCollaum said. "If you lose all of that water, you're done for the year. You have absolutely no source of income because you lost all your crops."