Episode 25: Go Time for Harvest and the Wildlife Migration

Even during difficult times like we’ve been experiencing, it helps to look for the positive.

In Sacramento Valley rice country – two positives are unfolding. After a difficult year where drought left 20 percent of fields unplanted, harvest of America’s sushi rice is underway and early reports are favorable.

Although acreage is down, initial reports on quality and yields look strong.

“We’re about thirty percent down from the total acreage that we can plant,” said Everett Willey, who farms with his dad Steve, at E.D. Willey & Sons in Nicolaus, Sutter County. “The growing season went alright. It was a fight to keep water on some fields. That’s why we started harvest early. There was a lack of water on the bottom check of the sweet rice field we’re harvesting now. We couldn’t push water down to it, so that’s a big reason we’re harvesting this early.”

A second positive is there’s help on the way for the Pacific Flyway – a program should provide emergency water to support the millions of birds heading to our region’s rice country to rest and refuel.

“The Drought Relief Waterbird Program is focused on providing extra water from groundwater pumping to shallow flood rice and wetland acres in the Sacramento Valley for waterbirds, commented Luke Matthews, Wildlife Programs Manager with the California Rice Commission. “It’s going to be particularly important this year, given the lack of habitat that we expect to see.”

In a normal year, about 300,000 acres of rice fields are shallowly-flooded after harvest, which breaks down rice stubble and creates vital environmental benefits. This year, current estimates are only about 65,000 acres will be flooded.

That’s where the program with the State Department of Water Resources can provide substantial help for this vital part of the Sacramento Valley ecosystem.

“Well certainly the current conditions truly heighten the importance of this landscape,” said Greg Golet, Applied Ecologist with The Nature Conservancy, one of the conservation groups that work with rice growers to maximize wildlife benefits from their fields. “These birds, when they arrive here, typically are ready to rest and refuel before either they continue further south or they set for their winter period in this region.  But this year, they’re going to arrive in likely poorer condition, due to the lack of good habitat in their traditional stopover sites. In addition to malnourishment, they can be susceptible to disease, and that’s exacerbated by crowded conditions.”

With such a dry landscape, rice field habitat is an even more important for the health of millions of ducks, geese and other birds.  

“It’s really an incredible opportunity that we have,” Golet remarked. “There are all of these levers, effectively, that we can pull to create the conditions that these birds depend upon. We know what they want, in terms of timing, depth of the water and how long it stays out on the fields. With this system of rice agriculture and associated infrastructure, it’s really very straightforward to create those conditions and then we see virtually an immediate response. The trick, of course, is getting adequate water to create that for the birds.”

The wildlife migration has begun. Shorebirds and ducks have already started to arrive. We will keep you updated on harvest and the amazing annual wildlife migration about to unfold.

Episode Transcript