I'd like your opinion on this too Mr. Lee since you've got experience with it...
I see the real issue going forward as farmers and the DNR both not benefiting from doing MSM. A farmer isn't going to want more water on their farm ground going into winter out of fear of flooded fields and the inability to get crops in before the crop insurance deadline the following spring; a real issue farmers face especially the farther NW you go. The DNR isn't going to benefit from MSM because the general public isn't going to approve of them taking any land they own and not having it in "long-term habitat." We can't even get duck hunters to all approve with some feeling it'd be an 'artificial and expensive band-aid' and MSM would basically be just for us.
I was thinking this might be a potentially inexpensive way of trying a moist soil management pilot program that would benefit farmers and hunters alike and the DNR would avoid any criticism so it'd be a win for them too.
The new buffer law has a lot of farmers upset over having to convert portions of their land to grass buffers. What if they could get compensated for it better than simply enrolling it in CRP? It seems like everything you have is right there for a cheap and effective MSM. A water source and fertile farmland that can no longer be in production that'd be full of duck food if it had a few inches of water over the top of it sounds like....insects, bugs, worms, larvae, roots, tubers, sprouts, water saturated grass that they now like eating.....whatever the hell they like from it should be there in decent amounts I'm guessing.
Have farmers volunteer to enroll in a program to have simple water control structures installed along their drainage ditches, on a 3 or 5 year pilot program. Have the DNR with assistance by DU or MWA or whomever, install some cost effective variable dams that even at their highest setting wouldn't back up enough water to flood onto their ground being farmed and mess with harvest in October Have them be required to hay it in late August or early September, or have the DNR or someone else hay it, however it'd pencil out and be desirable to sign-up, and then put boards in the dam to start holding water once it's mowed so that a MSM area would be ready a couple weeks before opener. Have it be part of the Walk-In area program as well so the farmers get paid more and guys can hunt it.
Just an idea, there'd be a lot to iron out. Funding and construction for the dams themselves would probably be the toughest. Obviously these aren't Swan or Lake Christina type dams with electric fish barriers and reverse pumping capacity.....I'm talking a couple concrete abutments with some planks used to raise the level. Hell, if one could be made out of railroad ties and function well enough go that route. Timing for mowing and damming would take some trial and error. You could even work with farmers on planting certain types of grasses or other cover/food. I'm guessing you could plant cheap regular grass seed and it'd work if you could time the flooding right. If it was my ground and I had the money or part of a club the extra expense of a pump for use in dry years would happen, I'm assuming it'd be too expensive under this scenario.
The best part is that the WIA program already exists and since it's obviously not a "long-term habitat solution" no one can bitch about starting MSM under that umbrella. The land stays private and Dayton can get another photo-op in blue jeans shaking some farmer's hand that's excited to get paid doing something with the farmland he just made worthless to him.
It'd be a win-win for everyone if it worked and attracted a fair amount of ducks.