Sidebar: Waterfowl and rice in California's Central Valley

• Published in: California agriculture (Berkeley, Calif.) Vol. 49; no. 6; p. 62
• Main Authors: Reid, Frederic A., Heitmeyer, Mickey E.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources 01.11.1995
• ISSN: 0008-0845; 2160-8091
• DOI: 10.3733/ca.v049n06p62

Abstract Not Available – First paragraph follows: Wetlands of California's Central Valley historically held one of the largest concentrations of wintering waterfowl in the world. In wet winters, some 2 million to 4 million acres of seasonal and semi-permanent wetlands were flooded in the Valley. It is estimated that as many as 40 million to 50 million waterfowl once funneled down the Pacific Flyway — from the arctic tundra of the Northwest Territories, the boreal forests of Alaska, the prairies of Canada, and the alkaline flats of the Great Basin — to the Central Valley. As recently as the 1970s, some 10 million to 12 million swans, geese, and ducks wintered in or migrated through California; large numbers of other waterbirds such as shore-birds, cranes, wading birds, rails, grebes and gulls also came.