Fish Food Bid Program FAQ

We want most of the water to get out to the river. Leaving some puddles, borrow ditches, etc. wet is okay. If doing multiple flood/drain cycles, leaving a little water on the field helps boost production for the next round of fish food.

Yes, managed wetlands may be enrolled in the Fish Food program. Please include wetland acreage on your application.

Yes, as long as the program requirements are met, hunted fields may be enrolled. In the past, hunting does not seem to be adversely affected by draining and reflood during waterfowl season. Changing the landscape by draining and reflooding and the addition of new water seem to attract the attention of lots of birds.

Yes, as long as the field can hold the target water depth, you can enroll in the program. If you have newly created rice checks in any fields, please manage your water depth to be resilient during high wind events. We would rather have 8 inches of water in a field during a wind storm than a blown out check in your field.

Fields may be concurrently enrolled in NRCS and CWRHIP winter flooding programs. Sequential enrollment with other programs is allowed, as long as the Fish Food water is exported within the program performance period.

The Fish Food program only pays for water management that you are not already being paid for. Double dipping for a single flood/drain cycle is not allowed.

For example, you are already enrolled in CWRHIP and you want to do Fish Food too. You will have already committed to 70 days of continuous flooding between October and March. You can get a fish food payment for draining and re-flooding in the middle of that 70 day period (concurrent enrollment approved by Brian Olson, CDFW), but you will not receive a Fish Food payment for the draining of your CWRHIP water. You could, however, reflood and drain for an additional Fish Food payment after your CWRHIP contract has ended (sequential enrollment). Theoretically, it is be possible to flood and drain the same field 3 times where you would be paid for 2 flood/drain cycles by Fish Food and for 1 cycle from CWRHIP.

NRCS flooding programs also allow both mid-season drains (concurrent enrollment approved by Tom Moore, NRCS), and sequential enrollment.

On your Fish Food bid application form, please include both your proposed cost for Fish Food management on fields concurrently enrolled in other flooding programs and on fields not enrolled in any other flooding programs. We expect concurrent enrollment bids to be less than bids for Fish Food alone due to the shared cost of flood management and infrastructure maintenance.

Practice adjustments for concurrent enrollment depend on the specific program you are pairing with Fish Food. Practice adjustment example for shorebird programs are to drain 25% of the acreage per week. Practice adjustment example for waterfowl programs are to leave 2 inches of water in the field for the mid-waterfowl season Fish Food drain.

Yes, we welcome both owner and tenant farmers.

Yes, we welcome agents who represent multiple parties to apply. Contracting directly with the agent or subcontracting with the parties may vary, depending on the situation and will be worked out with the Fish Food program during contracting.

This program is operated through a bidding process, which means you tell us how much it will cost to implement this habitat enhancement on your farm.

Applications will be evaluated based on two factors: the cost of your bid ($ per acre-cycle) relative to other bids and the value of the Fish Food exports provided. Fish Food value will be determined based on total inundated acreage, timing of drainage events, number of flood/drain cycles, proximity to existing drainage infrastructure, drainage distance to river, and regional participation.

If you are unable to get water before the start of the contract period there will be no penalties. The contract will simply become void and you will receive no payments.

Growers that either dry up or over flood enrolled fields during the contract period will be given the opportunity to fix these issues without any penalty. In the event that the issue persists through the contract period, it could impact the incentive payment.

Payments will be made within 45 days of the expiration date of the contract agreement.

Growers responsibilities are as follows:

• Coordinating with CalTrout staff to allow them access to monitor the fields
• Maintain water levels on enrolled fields
• Provide CalTrout staff with water discharge measurements from enrolled fields to the river within 45 days of the expiration of the contract date.

Yes. RD 108 will provide a 1099.