Rice Growers Flood Fields to Aid Waterfowl

Some rice growers in the Sacramento Valley are flooding their fallow fields in hospitality to migrating waterfowl whose natural habitats have all but disappeared.

The three-year experiment represents a partial truce between farmers and environmentalists in the fight over the state’s water.

Proponents say that, if the experiment proves successful, the practice could spread, reviving California’s once-vast flocks of waterfowl and turning fallow rice fields into shallow reservoirs.

“We’re looking at a multitude of benefits,” said Bob Herkert of the California Rice Industry Assn. If successful, “I’d anticipate it could go to as many as 200,000 acres.”

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which runs the Central Valley Project, has donated 5,000 acre-feet of water, which is being spread over 2,300 acres of rice fields throughout Butte County.

The Sacramento Valley is the primary wintering ground for ducks, geese and other migratory birds traveling the Pacific Flyway, a path from the Arctic to Central America.

Ninety-five percent of the valley’s natural wetlands has been destroyed during the past century, with much of it turned into rice fields. The number of waterfowl spending the winter there has plunged from nearly 50 million in the 1940s to fewer than 2 million today.

The field-flooding plan also would benefit rice farmers by giving them a new way to clear their land. For years, growers have burned straw and stubble, but the state has ordered a virtual end to the practice by the end of the century because of health concerns.

Some growers already testing flooding on their own are finding that it decomposes the unwanted debris, Herkert said.