While the series is best known for its striking images of campus architecture, student life, and natural settings, Adams also captured several other places associated with the university system. Among the few agricultural scenes is a notable image of flooded rice fields in the Sacramento Valley taken in May 1966. This single frame stands out not only for its visual beauty, but for the story it tells about the region’s connection to water, farming, and landscape.
For those working in Northern California’s rice industry and water management, the image is more than a study in light and shadow, it’s a snapshot of a system where careful irrigation and land use planning support both agricultural productivity and habitat for migratory birds and other wildlife. It reflects decades of innovation and collaboration between growers, water managers, and researchers, much of it centered in the Sacramento Valley.
(Rice Fields, Sacramento Valley, by Ansel Adams, UC Fiat Lux Series)
Adams’s choice to include this view within Fiat Lux offers a reminder that the University of California’s story is inseparable from the landscapes and resources that sustain it. Water is not only essential for the state’s leading agricultural commodities but also shapes the ecological health and cultural identity of Northern California.
As we navigate today’s water challenges, from changing climate patterns to habitat restoration needs, the flooded rice fields in Adams’s lens serve as both a historical document and a symbol: a reminder that stewardship of water and land is central to the resilience of our region’s food systems, wildlife, and communities.
