Table of Contents
Environmental & Conservation Balance Sheet for The California Rice Industry
Chapter 7: Recreation & Energy in Relation to Rice Farming
Recreational activities in the rice growing region of California's Central Valley primarily include hunting and bird watching. More than half of the Central Valley's wetlands are in private ownership, managed primarily for duck hunting (Ducks Unlimited, 1995a). Federal and state wildlife refuges in the vicinity of Central Valley rice fields manage approximately 35,000 acres of waterfowl habitat. As discussed in Chapter 6, the Sacramento Valley's game refuges, rice fields, other wetlands, and agricultural properties provide unique habitat for wildlife, especially migratory waterfowl. Birds can be observed from the roadside any time of the year, but during the early spring large numbers of migratory waterfowl can be seen flying in many directions. Where fields are flooded, as on wildlife refuges and winter flooded rice fields, large numbers of geese, ducks, swans, and other waterfowl can be observed at rest. Wildlife refuges in the Sacramento Valley include the following:
- Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge
- Delevan National Wildlife Refuge
- Colusa National Wildlife Refuge
- Sutter National Wildlife Refuge
- Grey Lodge Wildlife Management Area
These refuges are open to the public for hunting, wildlife viewing, walking, and bicycling activities. They are the most ideal points for viewing the bird populations that depend on all suitable Sacramento Valley habitat, including that found in rice fields.
Unflooded rice fields are upland game bird habitat, and flooded fields support waterfowl, especially if flooded during winter. The additional habitat adds to recreational oppor tunities for bird watchers and hunters alike. The wildlife habitat relationships of rice farming are discussed in Chapter 6. Some will be recapped here as they relate to hunting and bird watching activities.
California's Central Valley is one of the most important wintering areas for waterfowl in North America, supporting about 60 percent of the Pacific Flyway's waterfowl population. Because of the limited natural wetland area, the large numbers of waterfowl wintering in California could not be supported without small-grain production fields (including rice).
Hunting clubs manage 30,000 acres of wetlands, of which 12,000 acres are flooded rice fields. The primary source of flood water for the wetlands in the Butte Basin is return flow from rice fields. In the Colusa Basin, more than 150 private duck hunting clubs with about 25,000 acres of wetlands have been established, including 4,000 acres of natural wetlands and the balance as winter-flooded rice fields. As in the Butte Basin, most of the water supply for these wetlands is irrigation return flow, primarily from rice fields (CVHJV, 1990).
Waterfowl arriving in the Central Valley require a diet rich in carbohydrates to replenish fat reserves lost during fall migration. Agricultural crops are eaten by many species of waterfowl because they are widespread, easily accessible, and provide high levels of carbohydrates. Historically, migratory waterfowl were viewed as major rice pests because of the amount of pre-harvest rice seed they consumed. In an effort to alleviate this problem, a series of wildlife refuges was developed to attract birds away from the maturing rice. This pre-harvest seed predation has been largely eliminated by the widespread adoption of shorter season rice varieties. These varieties mature in about 135 days as opposed to about 165 days for longer season varieties; therefore, they mature before most migratory waterfowl arrive.
Waterfowl also benefit greatly from the invertebrate populations that thrive in non-burned, flooded fields. All species of waterfowl have increased protein requirements during molt and egg laying. Agricultural fields flooded through late winter provide critical invertebrate food resources for molting and prelaying hens (Ducks Unlimited, 1995b; CRIA, 1992; Brouder, and Hill, 1995).
Rice fields provide about 250 pounds per acre of naturally occurring food sources such as small invertebrates, tubers, edible shoots, and seeds. In addition, after harvest an average of 350 pounds per acre of rice is available to waterfowl. Rice fields managed as wetlands can provide as much as 600 pounds of food per acre, or 80 percent of the amount of food found in natural wetlands (Brouder and Hill, 1995).
Wildlife refuges provide waterfowl with feeding and resting areas, and grow supplemental food crops. Many game bird species, such as mourning doves, pheasant, quail, and prairie chicken, benefit directly from upland nesting habitat available on the refuges.
Energy
Recycling of rice straw could provide a helpful, if limited, alternative to fossil fuel energy. Alternative, large-scale, mechanized crops would consume roughly similar amounts of energy. Urbanization would consume substantially more.
Conclusions
The principal recreational activities affected by rice farming are hunting of game birds (upland and waterfowl) and bird watching. Both of these activities are directly tied to ricefarming's effect on wildlife, discussed in Chapter 6. Hunting of waterfowl is an important source of revenue in the Sacramento Valley, via the sale of hunting licenses and stamps, and hunting club fees. Scenic, or visual, quality benefits of rice fields relative to other feasible land uses are subjective and difficult to assess.
References
Brouder, S. M. and J. E. Hill. 1995. Winter Flooding of Ricelands Provides Waterfowl Habitat. California Agriculture, 49, pp. 58.
CRIA Newsletter. 1992. Impact of Rice Straw Burning Alternatives on Waterfowl. August.
California Valley Habitat Joint Venture Implementation Plan. 1990. A Component of the North American Waterfowl Plan. U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Portland, Oregon.
Ducks Unlimited, Inc. 1995a. Management of Spring and Summer Brood Water Wetlands in the Central Valley.
Ducks Unlimited, Inc. 1995b. Enhancing Agricultural Fields for Waterfowl.
Ducks Unlimited, Inc. 1995c. Wildlife Resources of the Central Valley, California Birds - Part I: Permanent and Summer Residents.
Ducks Unlimited, Inc. 1995d. Wildlife Resources of the Central Valley, California Birds - Part II: Winter Residents and Transients.
U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 1996. Game Species Management in the National Wildlife Refuge System. January. See also http://bluegoose.arw.r9.fws.gov.
