Notices were sent out today by email to all applicants of the Rice Drought Relief Waterbird Program. This notice provided information about the applicants enrollment status.
Here’s a link to background on the program.
If you applied for the program but did not receive a notice please reach out to Luke Matthews, CRC’s Wildlife Programs Manager, at 916-607-8988 or lmatthews@calrice.org
In response to the extreme drought in California’s Central Valley and the expected reduction in critical wetland habitat for Pacific Flyway waterfowl and other waterbirds, the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) has made $2 million available this winter to private wetlands in the Sacramento Valley to increase the amount of available wintering habitat for migratory birds. Several organizations including the California Rice Commission, California Waterfowl Association, Ducks Unlimited, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, The Nature Conservancy, Point Blue Conservation Science and Audubon California have teamed up to provide drought relief for wetlands and help offset the costs of flooding private wetlands with groundwater in winter 2021-2022. For more details or to apply for the program please view this flyer.
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You have less than one week to apply for a special program to help wildlife endure the drought. The California rice industry has teamed up with the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) to fund a special $8 million Drought Relief Waterbird Program. This program seeks to create waterbird habitat through the operation of groundwater wells to winter flood rice fields for migratory birds. The program will be rolled out on an expedited timeframe, given the rice harvest schedule this year.
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Ducks Unlimited and California Waterfowl are thinking hard about ways that rice growers can make their fields as valuable as possible for ducks, even in this severe drought when decomp water will be hard to come by this fall.
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