California drought could mean ‘devastation across the board’ for fowl on Pacific Flyway

California’s worsening drought is spreading misery among Sacramento Valley farmers, their workers and a host of businesses that revolve around Valley agriculture.

Then there’s the potential environmental disaster.

Rice fields provide critical food and habitat for millions of geese, mallards, wood ducks and other migratory waterfowl that traverse what is known as the Pacific Flyway. Shorebirds such as Western sandpipers and long-billed curlews also find temporary homes in rice fields.

With California having lost 95% of its historic wetland habitat since the Gold Rush, “rice has become an important surrogate,” said Mike Lynes, public policy director for Audubon California.

This year, though, there will be a lot less rice for the waterfowl. Economists and others believe at least half of the normal rice acreage will go fallow, leaving at least 250,000 acres of Valley land empty.

This year’s meager crop “is going to leave birds without a whole lot of places to go,” Lynes said. “It makes conservation of these species even more difficult.”

Making matters worse, major wildlife refuges in the Valley are facing significant water shortages as well, he said.

The problem will hit home in late fall, after the rice has been harvested and the migratory season begins. Ordinarily the birds would feast on rice that’s been left in the fields.

“It’s amazing the amount of food and habitat the rice industry does provide,” said Mark Hennelly, vice president for advocacy with the California Waterfowl Association. “Having a healthy rice crop is critical.”

With fewer fields being planted, it’s likely that the fowl will cram themselves into a smaller footprint, creating potential health problems.

“If you have avian cholera or another disease, it can really spread quickly and kill thousands of birds,” he said.

On Don Bransford’s rice farm in the Colusa County community of Williams, the influx of geese every year creates a stunning sight. With his fields idled this year, he too worries about the danger facing the birds.

“The rice fields are a living environment,” said Bransford, who’s idled all 1,800 acres of his rice fields. “This is devastation across the board.”