Land Park duck ponds have sat fenced and empty for months. What’s going on?

The lily ponds at William Land Regional Park have been empty for four months — fenced, drained and duck-less.

When the community will see the once-full-of-life ponds return to their former glory is up in the air. Here’s what is going on:

Why did Sacramento drain the Land Park duck ponds?

City officials temporarily emptied the habitats in August to protect the Sacramento Zoo’s wildlife from avian Influenza or H5N1, a virus spread by sick birds that affects both them and humans.

The state’s large population of migratory waterfowl, said senior environmental scientist Krysta Rogers with the Department of Fish and Wildlife in an email to The Bee, could be a reason why the disease continues to circulate across Northern California.

The most recent bird flu detection occurred Monday in Amador County, less than 50 miles from Sacramento County.

“Avian influenza viruses naturally circulate in species of waterfowl (ducks, geese, swans),” Rodgers said. “As such, we tend to see increased circulation of the highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 strain among waterfowl, as well as in other birds that may share habitat with waterfowl.”

The Sacramento Zoo at West Land Park Drive sits less than one mile from the park and is why the city drained the ponds following the Department of Fish and Wildlife’s H5N1 advisory notice in August. The virus was not detected among the park’s bird population of ducks and geese and the pond water was pumped onto the “surrounding turf area.”

The draining of the ponds was the city’s opportunity to do some much-needed work.

William Land Regional Park ponds under repair

While the duck and lily ponds at William Land Regional Park are free of both wildlife and water, the city has been working to update the reservoirs — which you won’t be able to notice once the water is pumped back in.

The city poured $150,000 into the ponds for maintenance and repairs, said Gabby Miller with the Sacramento City Manager’s Office in an email to The Bee, including the removal of more than 2,000 cubic yards of sediment. Pumps and valves were replaced and deteriorated drains were repaired.

All planned repairs, the cost of which came from the park service’s Land Park fund, should be complete by Jan. 15.

The ponds will remain fenced off, Miller said, until they’re refilled.

When will the birds come back?

When the ponds will be refilled depends on the presence of the bird flu in the area, plus guidance from both the Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Department of Food and Agriculture.

In the meantime, the ducks and geese who reside at William Regional Land Park’s ponds now live less than a mile away at Mayor Anne Rudin Peace Pond. Red-eared slider turtles were “humanely collected” and taken by Sonoma County Reptile Rescue in Sebastopol.

How you can help the birds

Do not feed the fowl at William Land Park.

“Feeding the ducks,” the city of Sacramento wrote in an August statement “could potentially condition the ducks into falsely believing that the drained ponds will continue to be a viable place for their survival.”

Instead, allow the animals to rely on their natural instincts to find water like the pond 700 feet away at Mayor Anne Rudin Peace Pond.

This story was originally published December 16, 2022 at 5:00 AM.