By Meghan Hertel and John McManus CALIFORNIA’S MOST IMPORTANT federal water reform law – the Central Valley Project Improvement Act (CVPIA) – celebrated its 25th anniversary on October 30. The landmark law, signed by President George H.W. Bush, was a…
4 suggestions for improving conservation program outcomes
According to a recent study by researchers from Virginia Tech’s College of Natural Resources and Environment and Point Blue Conservation Science published in the scientific journal Conservation Letters, it is necessary to find ways to sustain the benefits from voluntary…
More Bang for Your Duck
Rice farmer Michael Bosworth can easily recognize the distinctive “kla-ha, kla-ha” call made by white-fronted geese on his property. They always sound like they’re having a good laugh. The birds’ high-pitched yelps reveal their presence before we approach a flock…
Migratory Bird Habitat Shrinking In California
The Sacramento Valley is a globally important resting and refueling stop for birds migrating along the Pacific Flyway. The valley provides habitat for more than 400,000 birds making their way from Alaska to Argentina and back. A new study shows…
Science Night Live: Protecting Bird Habitats In California
California’s ongoing drought and rapid pace of agricultural development could be placing the state’s waterbirds at risks. The Central Valley’s agricultural landscape does not only feed people around the globe, it also plays a critical role within the animal ecosystem.…
Rice farms receive federal help to provide waterbird habitat
With habitat for California waterbirds drying up, conservation groups and rice farmers are collaborating to flood fields and enhance waterbird habitat on roughly 550,000 acres of California’s rice fields. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service is contributing…
Recycled water project to help West Side reaches milestone
The North Valley Regional Recycled Water Program – in which Modesto and Turlock will send highly treated wastewater to Del Puerto Water District farmers – has reached a major milestone. The federal Bureau of Reclamation approved what is called the…
Water for farms — and fish and fowl
By Brigid McCormack, executive director of Audubon California In an absurd twist, the villain of the California drought — once the almond farmer — is now the natural world, with some water districts and politicians regularly claiming that we set…
Birds Are Dying As Drought Ravages Avian Highways
Suisun City, California—In years past, long-billed dowitchers flying in from Alaska could count on California stopovers to offer vast stretches of fresh melted snow teeming with plants and insects. But now, as the Sierra Nevada snowpack has vanished and clouds…
Through the Eyes of a Dowitcher
Have you ever tried to see the world through someone else’s eyes? You’d see different challenges, different advantages, and more than likely, you’d learn valuable lessons. Lessons that might help you coexist with greater ease, understanding and benefit. Imagine you…