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Rice Habitat Swells
There's seven times as much flooded rice field habitat for ducks to feed and frolic in that there was four years ago. The California Ricelands Habitat Partnership now boasts at least 150,000 acres of rice fields winter-flooded for wildlife in the Sacramento Valley. "If you count the marshlands on private duck clubs and state and federal refuges, the total is probably over 200,000 acres," says Mike Bias of Ducks Unlimited, one of the organizations in the partnership, which began as a 20,000-acre pilot project in the winter of 1993.
After a state law was passed restricting rice burning, the partnership formed to test whether flooding post-harvest fields could effectively decompose rice "straw" while offering winter habitat for migrating waterfowl. So far, the project has met with success, both in decomposing straw and offering habitat for large numbers of ducks. "We're proud of what we've accomplished," says Steve Butler, a grower and duck hunter. "We went from an all-time low in the late 1980s to the large numbers of birds we see out here now." Estimates of the number of ducks using the ricelands range from 2-4 million.
Although there's more waterfowl habitat and cleaner air in the valley, some hunters have begun to complain they aren't seeing as many ducks. Wildlife managers explain that when more ducks are crowded into less space, the hunting is easier, and some hunters feel more successful. Other hunters feel that crowding too many birds into less habitat is unethical. The worry is that if you make things too good for ducks by dispersing them over large areas, hunters will stop spending money on managed wetlands. At least 70% of California's marshland is owned and managed by duck hunters.
Cal Fish & Game's Glenn Rollins says that duck hunters not only pay dearly for blinds and licenses, but often pay more for water to flood their wetlands. Farmers who flood and operate duck clubs on their fields pay more than farmers who flood just to provide habitat. "We've got eight species of ducks supporting over 200 species of birds out here," he says.
In an effort to get a better distribution of ducks throughout the valley, Rollins is working with farmers elsewhere to teach them how to establish hunting programs. He feels there is probably some optimal amount of habitat that will support the maximum amount of ducks possible and still allow for good hunting. But other factors affect duck numbers too. If breeding habitat in the north is dwindling or isn't good quality, for example, just creating more winter habitat won't increase bird numbers.
In the meantime, the flooded rice fields are providing benefits for more than just the waterfowl sought by hunters. "You've got all kinds of shorebirds wintering here, western sandpipers, killdeer, avocets," says Rollins. "Plus wading birds, ibis, egrets, herons, even gulls. You see them standing out there eating crayfish." Counts of shorebirds in the Sacramento Valley last winter numbered in the hundreds of thousands. Rollins would like to see farmers manage their wetlands for these birds too. Although most ducks prefer depths of at least a foot (or deeper), shorebirds prefer shallower water. "You'll often see them around the edges of the fields," he explains.
Despite the concerns of a growing number of hunters, most people agree that the Ricelands Partnership is a good thing, allowing agricultural land to remain productive while providing much-needed habitat. Some wonder what will happen in drought years, when every drop of water is needed for fish flows, or when the market for rice straw (for alternative energy, erosion control, etc.) takes off and growers can make more money from selling their straw than flooding it. But in the meantime, a new and possibly bigger threat to ricelands has emerged. "You're starting to see cotton in the Sacramento Valley," says Mike Bias. More cotton fields mean less rice habitat and more problems for rice growers (cotton is sensitive to the herbicides used on rice). As Mike Miller of the Central Valley Habitat Joint Venture Technical Committee puts it, "There's a saying that rice IS wildlife habitat. Without it, you're never going to support all these birds."
Contact: Mike Bias (916)852-2000, Mike Miller (916)756-1946 or Glen Rollins (916)653-1768
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