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Farming and Wildlife Go Hand In Hand
Doug McGeoghegan has been farming rice on Gunner's Field Ranch since 1973, and has been a recent board member for the California State Game Commission. His Colusa county farm provides habitat for several species of wildlife, including ducks, geese, swans, egrets, pheasants, herons, and many species of raptors. In all the farm is home to up to 85 different species of birds at various times of the year. Gunner's field Ranch is located north of Delevan national Wildlife Refuge.
In an effort to provide undisturbed nesting habitat and cover for these species, Mcgeoghegan leaves hedgerows around his field and ditch banks. He also leaves some fields fallow and avoids mowing or other preparatory work in them until after the fourth of July, a practice that, according to McGeoghegan, is common to farmers up and down the Central Valley. This allows for duck and pheasant broods to mature and be "up and out" before any work is done in the field.
In addition to these activities, McGeoghegan also floods his fields in the winter to provide habitat for waterfowl along their migration route. More and more farmers are flooding their fields in order to comply with burning restrictions, a move that is aiding wildlife. According to McGeoghegan, seeing the increasing numbers of wildlife coming to their farms causes farmers to "approach that (regulation) with a little more enthusiasm," and now more than 150,000 of the 500,000 acres of rice land in the Central Valley are being enhanced by farmers to provide seasonal wetlands for waterfowl. Although not being able to burn as much ground creates some hardship by leading to further expense and more disease outbreaks such as rice blast, McGeoghegan, thinks that flooding has been a positive development and says, " it's been a good-news story all the way around."
Flooded rice fields, in addition to providing cover and habitat, provide feed for the birds. Each (flooded rice field acre) field, says McGeoghegan, provides 200-300 lbs of macro-invertebrates. These provide waterfowl with excellent sources of both complex carbohydrates and protein. These nutrients allow the waterfowl to fly back to their Canadian breeding grounds in "much better condition" for laying eggs and raising young. McGeoghegan does all this because, he explains, "we're trying to propagate healthy and sustainable populations" of wildlife. He feels strongly that leaving nests and feeding habitat undisturbed increases rates of eggs and chicks significantly.
McGeoghegan believes that agriculture and conservation can go hand in hand, saying that it's been "proven time and again that they can be compatible." He, like other farmers, has "always had kind of a conservation bent," and considers himself "extremely fortunate to have this wildlife treasure trove." McGeoghegan says that he's not alone in this belief, and finds it a "satisfying endeavor" to help wildlife like he does because, "I can't imagine a world without wildlife."
What Can You Do For Wildlife?
1. Clear weeds from just one side of water ditches when necessary.
2. Plant wildlife food plots which can be left for winter cover and feed.
3. Build and install wood duck, barn owl, bluebird, and bat boxes.
By Melissa Heringer
Reprinted from AG ALERT, the California Farm Bureau newspaper.
Rice stubble burning program update
The state's new rice straw burn plan requires farmers to confirm that their fields are contaminated by disease before they can burn remaining straw and stubble after harvest.
Air quality laws have phased down rice straw burning over the past ten years. Next year only 25% of the Sacramento Valley rice fields will be burned.
Air Resource Board planner Paul Buttner wrote the proposed regulations and tried to make the plan something growers could reasonably deal with, he told about 50 growers who attended a meeting in Willows.
The proposal goes to the California Air Resources Board September 27 and comments can be sent to: Air Resources Board, P. O. Box 2815, Sacramento, CA 95812. A decision is expected by February 15, 2001.
Under the proposed plan all burning could take place in the fall, rather than previous requirements that only 90,000 acres could be burned in the fall.
The state legislature requires that growers who request rice burns must confirm diseases are present in their fields and must prove the disease will seriously effect their yields.
The diseases now on the test list include rice neck blast, stem rot, and aggregate sheathspot, but more can be added at a later date if needed.
In order to burn, growers must show 15 percent of the stalks have stem rot and/or aggregate sheathspot or that 1.8 percent of the rice has neck blast.
Fewer that four to six inspection locations might be needed if a grower notes very high percentages of infected stalks. For example, 15 percent diseased stalks is needed for burning. If one sample on a small field shows 75 percent infection rate, even if the other samples turned up no disease, the disease rate would average out to be above 15 percent.
Preliminary testing in the Sacramento areas turning up 55-75 percent of the tested rice showed some signs of disease. This data will likely mean the Air Resource Board will recognize the need for burning of fields. With the 25 percent limits, growers can burn their most diseased portions of the fields each year, rotating through until all of their acreage is burned over several years.
Agriculture Commissioners in the affected counties will double-check the results of about 5 percent of the fields tested by growers.
Growers won't need to keep their original samples, but they will need to show the Agricultural Commissioners where they took the sample so the test can be done again.
"It's important to do it honestly so we can build credibility," Glenn County Ag Commissioner Ed Romano told the growers.
After showing their rice contains enough disease to merit burning, burn permits can be submitted. The local air quality control boards will then monitor air quality and determine when burn days will be allowed, as has been done for several years.
The number of acres to be burned will be divided among the counties in the air basin depending on the percentage of rice grown in that county.
The current estimate is that 60,000 acres of rice are grown in the Sacramento Valley, which includes Butte, Colusa, Glenn, Placer, Sacramento, Sutter, Tehama, Yolo and Yuba counties.
Glenn County grows about 90,000 acres and Butte County grows about 100,000 acres.
A harvested rice field, pictured above, leaves behind a large amount of straw and stubble that makes great habitat for pheasants and geese. It creates a real problem for farmers when preparing fields for spring planting.
The Western Canal Water District contracted with the Department of Water resources offering to leave rice land fallow in exchange for $200 to $300 an acre. This 80,000 acre-feet of water will be made available to use in dry areas south of the Sacramento Delta. Some rice growers are participating in the program because there is an oversupply of rice still on the market form last year and the price of rice is expected to be low.
According to Lace Tennis, district board member, no more than 30 percent of the land in the district will be fallow, a total of about 17,600 acres. The Board of Directors thought this was a manageable amount and would not impact the businesses that provide materials and services to the rice growers.
During the off season, the rice growers battle weeds and take advantage of unirrigated fields to laser level the land. Before any working of the ground, growers leave the cover available for nesting ducks and pheasants. Expecting to begin leveling after the nesting season in June or July.
Fewer acres planted doesn't necessarily equate into fewer acres flooded during duck season. Some duck hunters may find themselves hunting in the mud if their fields are left fallow during the growing season. Non-hunted rice fields left fallow during the growing season will be left dry during the duck hunting season and that's good news for the rice land hunter. Expect 5 percent fewer acres flooded during the 2001-2002 duck season, down by about 520,000 acres in the Sacramento Valley Region.
A combanation of lower prices, caused by the gult and the threat of dramatic electric rate increases has many farmers wondering how they can afford to pump enough water to flood their fields to grow rice.
Expecting a lower demand for water from rice farmers, many sacramento valley water districts are selling water to the state. In turn the state is offering the water to farmers in the San Joaquin Valley to the south, who have been told to expect 70 percent cuts in their water allocations.
Too many rice farmers wanted to particapate in the program, said Matt Colwell, CEO of the Western Canal Water District.
