Each winter, millions of waterfowl travel the Pacific Flyway, one of North America’s major bird migration routes, relying on California’s wetlands, rivers and working lands to rest and refuel along the way. The Sacramento Valley is especially important, providing critical wintering habitat for waterfowl along the Flyway.
For Jeff McCreary, Director of Operations for Ducks Unlimited’s Western Region, protecting this migration “superhighway” illustrates why water management in California must consider the connections between rivers, wetlands, working lands, fish, wildlife and communities.
It is also why Ducks Unlimited supports the Healthy Rivers and Landscapes (HRL) program.
A Landscape Approach to Conservation
Ducks Unlimited has worked for decades to conserve wetlands and waterfowl habitat throughout California and across the West. Its work includes restoring wetlands, protecting agricultural lands that provide important wildlife habitat, and securing water supplies for wetlands and wildlife areas.
That experience demonstrates an important principle: water and habitat work together. For millions of birds traveling the Pacific Flyway, water is essential, but so are the wetlands, wildlife refuges, floodplains and winter-flooded agricultural lands that provide places to rest and feed.
Healthy Rivers and Landscapes applies that same principle on a broader scale, pairing functional flows with habitat restoration and science-based water management to improve conditions for fish and wildlife while supporting working lands and communities.
More Than Just Flows
This is also an important distinction between Healthy Rivers and Landscapes and an unimpaired flows, or flows-only, approach. Flows alone cannot provide the habitat improvements and landscape-scale actions needed to achieve these outcomes. Water alone does not restore wetlands, reconnect floodplains, create spawning and rearing habitat, or improve the working landscapes that provide critical habitat for waterfowl and other wildlife.
HRL also draws on the expertise of California’s water managers, who understand their local rivers, watersheds and regional conditions. Through the program, they will have tools and data to strategically manage water when and where it can provide the greatest benefits.
Investing in California’s Rivers and Landscapes
For Ducks Unlimited, that approach reflects what decades of conservation work have shown: healthy rivers, wetlands and working landscapes are interconnected.
Healthy Rivers and Landscapes provides an opportunity to manage them that way, investing in the long-term health of the Pacific Flyway and the people, fish and wildlife that depend on California’s water.
Watch Jeff McCreary, Director of Operations for Ducks Unlimited’s Western Region, share why Ducks Unlimited supports Healthy Rivers and Landscapes as a path forward for California.
Jeff McCreary 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.
