Parmer County rain often settles into playas

Parmer County belongs to the Llano Estacado water-planning region, a 21-county stretch of the southern High Plains. It reaches the upper parts of the Canadian River, Red River, Brazos River, and Colorado River basins, yet almost no surface water leaves. More than 95 percent is caught by an estimated 14,000 playa basins.

A playa is not a permanent blue lake. Texas Parks and Wildlife describes playas as shallow, round wetlands filled mostly by rain, though some cropland basins also receive irrigation runoff. They average a little over 15 acres, and about 87 percent are smaller than 30 acres.

The basins pass through unpredictable wet and dry cycles. When water arrives, annual plants and invertebrates flourish. During migration, cranes, ducks, geese, and shorebirds use playas as stopping and feeding places.

The same low circle can be dry in one season and busy with birds in another. It is a High Plains water story written in cycles instead of along a permanent shoreline.