For nearly 100 years, Nicole Montna Van Vleck’s family has grown rice in the Sacramento Valley. Over those generations, the family has also seen firsthand how working agricultural lands can provide important habitat for fish and wildlife.
In a new video, Montna Van Vleck shares why that experience is one reason she supports Healthy Rivers and Landscapes (HRL), and why she believes the program offers the best path forward for California’s farms, communities and environment.
Working Lands Providing Habitat
California ricelands produce food while also providing habitat for millions of ducks, geese and shorebirds that migrate through the Sacramento Valley each year.
That role has grown over decades. Rice farmers and conservation partners pioneered practices that use flooded rice fields during the winter months to replicate some of the wetland habitat that historically covered the Sacramento Valley. Today, those working lands are an important part of the Pacific Flyway.
More recently, farmers, water managers, conservation organizations and scientists have been exploring how these same working lands can also benefit native fish.
Research and projects throughout the Sacramento Valley have shown that juvenile salmon can use seasonally flooded rice fields and floodplains as productive rearing habitat. These areas can provide an abundance of food, helping young salmon grow bigger and stronger before continuing their journey toward the ocean.
For Montna Van Vleck, it is another example of how agriculture and the environment can work together. Ricelands provide food and rest stops for millions of ducks, geese and shorebirds, and now, even migrating juvenile salmon.
A Path Forward for California
Healthy Rivers and Landscapes builds on this type of multi-benefit approach.
An unimpaired flows approach cannot deliver these same benefits. Simply leaving more water in rivers does not create food-rich floodplains, spawning grounds, rearing habitat or other conditions fish and wildlife need.
Healthy Rivers and Landscapes instead pairs increased river flows with extensive habitat restoration and recognizes the role that working lands can play in supporting fish and wildlife. At the same time, it provides greater certainty for the farms and communities that depend on reliable water supplies.
For California’s agricultural communities, that balance matters. Stable farms and reliable water supplies support food production, jobs and rural communities, while thoughtfully managed working lands can also provide habitat and other environmental benefits.
As Montna Van Vleck explains, Healthy Rivers and Landscapes not only allows farms to continue to grow food for people, but will ensure we keep providing critical habitat for our fish, birds and wildlife.
It is an approach that builds on what Sacramento Valley farmers have been doing for decades: finding ways for working lands and the environment to thrive together.
Nicole Montna Van Vleck is one of many leaders from across California who have shared why they support Healthy Rivers and Landscapes. We invite you to explore additional perspectives by clicking on the video map below.
