By Catherine Hickey, Point Blue Conservation Science
Across California’s Sacramento Valley, partners are coming together to ensure the region’s floodplains work for both people and wildlife. As part of the Floodplain Forward Coalition, Point Blue Conservation Science and our collaborators are integrating the latest science into multi-species management—helping landowners, water managers, and conservation groups align efforts for birds, fish, and other wildlife that depend on dynamic wetland habitat.
Over the past several decades, creative partnerships have helped bring back waterfowl populations and advance recovery efforts for endangered fish. Yet one group of species, the shorebirds that travel thousands of miles along the Pacific Flyway, still faces significant challenges. Shorebirds include sandpipers, stilts, and many other species that are often seen searching for invertebrate prey in wetlands. The “shoulder seasons” of late summer, early fall, and late spring are especially critical for migrating shorebirds, when shallow wet habitats become scarce across much of the Valley.
With more than 95% of the region’s native floodplain lost, shorebirds now rely on managed wetlands and working ricelands to find the food and resting habitat they need. Through conservation incentive programs like BirdReturns and Bid4Birds, run in partnership between Point Blue, Audubon, The Nature Conservancy, California Department of Fish and Wildlife and the California Rice Commission, farmers are providing vital “pop-up” wetlands that fill these seasonal gaps, while scientists study how consistency of flooding across years can strengthen shorebird populations over time.
Point Blue’s latest collaboration with the Floodplain Forward Coalition highlights these challenges and opportunities through a new visual story. Click on the image or here to download this infographic document.
By combining science, collaboration, and adaptive management, we can help ensure that sandpipers, stilts, avocets, and other shorebirds continue to grace our skies for generations to come.
