California BirdReturns
BIRDRETURNS ENABLES GROWERS TO HELP BIRDS The BirdReturns program compensates rice growers who create waterfowl and shorebird habitats by keeping their harvested fields submerged longer than usual. Rice growers understand that their agricultural fields are ecologically important as habitat for native and migrating wildlife, particularly waterbirds. But agricultural production cycles don’t necessarily coincide with avian […]
Rice fields teem with aquatic life for much of the year
Human activity often is in conflict with nature, but in some special places certain human endeavors harmonize exquisitely with the natural environment. Such is the case in the rice fields of California’s Sacramento Valley. Viewed from aircraft, the marshy rice fields radiate the glistening rays of the sun. At ground level, though, the lush land […]
Foundation takes the reins to directly administer a proven habitat program
Like a fledgling about take flight, the California Ricelands Waterbird Foundation is poised to administer its habitat management program independently, for the first time.
Riceland Owls
This fall, the California Ricelands Waterbird Foundation is proudly celebrating owls, a feathered family that encompasses close to 200 distinct species across the globe.
2016 SHOREBIRD HABITAT PROJECTS
REPORT FROM THE NATURE CONSERVANCY’S BIRDRETURNS PROGRAM The Nature Conservancy is grateful for the California Ricelands Waterbird Foundation’s support of the BirdReturns program, which created approximately 800 acres of additional habitat in spring 2016. Together with the Rice Commission’s significant role in designing and carrying out the program over the last three years, the Conservancy […]