We’re cautiously optimistic about how things are going to progress this winter.” Now, we’re seeing rain on the landscape, which is right in the nick of time, because this is when the birds are starting to come. We thought there would be a lot more dry ground out there all the way into the middle of winter, when the rains have typically come. This recent rain actually provided more habitat in the Sacramento Valley, because it’s shallowly-flooding up the dry rice fields unexpectedly.

“We’re seeing lots of ducks and geese really early. “What we’re seeing with the dry conditions in the Klamath Basin and the Great Salt Lake is that birds are not staying in those locations, they’re moving on quickly and coming to the Sacramento Valley earlier than they normally would,” McCreary said. McCreary said the Sacramento Valley is perhaps even more valuable for migrating wildlife this year, due to water shortages elsewhere on their journey. “It’s a good thing for everybody!”Īmong those closely monitoring the Pacific Flyway migration is Jeff McCreary, Manager of the Western Region for Ducks Unlimited, a key conservation partner with the Rice Commission and other stakeholders. “It’s nice to be able to come to work every day and see thousands of geese and ducks, as well as tons of shorebirds,” Gallagher remarked. He said wildlife viewing is good and getting better by the day. Sutter County rice grower Jeff Gallagher has participated in many conservation programs, including this effort to provide more water for wildlife. It provides for about 42,000 acres of rice fields to be shallow-flooded for birds, along with about 12,000 acres of private wetlands.

Matthews said a new program funded by the California Department of Water Resources will be a huge help. We’re not out of the woods yet, but definitely hope here.” It’s definitely going to benefit migratory birds, but one storm doesn’t change a couple of years of drought. “It has saturated the soils and added a bit of water to creeks, streams and reservoirs. “We went from historic drought to record-setting rain, and it has helped,” said Luke Matthews, Wildlife Programs Manager with the California Rice Commission.

Fortunately, through an innovative new program and a large recent rainstorm, the outlook for migrating wildlife has improved.

Welcome to the ricefields