Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge

The Sacramento NWR Complex was created in an attempt to resolve the conflict between the needs of migrating birds using the Pacific flyway, and those of agriculture. Before the arrival of European settlers in the nineteenth century, much of the Sacramento valley was taken up by seasonal wetlands and grasslands. By the beginning of the twentieth century much of this had been replaced by farmland, particularly for the growing of rice, and the rivers no longer create new wetlands because their flow is controlled by levees and irrigation schemes. Less than 10% of the original wetland area remains. Migrating birds have continued to use the area, and resting in the ricefields, consumed considerable quantities of the crop.

In 1937 the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, with the aid of the Civilian Conservation Corps, began the process of creating a refuge within dry, alkaline lands between the towns of Willows and Maxwell. This was the original Sacramento NWR. From the 1940s onward, additional refuges were created, so that the Sacramento NWR Complex now includes the following refuges, located between 80Km (50 miles) and 145Km (90 miles) north of the city of Sacramento:

• Sacramento
• Delevan (east of Maxwell)
• Butte Sink (east of the town of Colusa)
• Colusa (between the towns of Colusa and Williams)
• Sutter (east of Arbuckle)
• Sacramento River (east of Glenn)

The total area of the refuges is about 14,000 hectares (about 35,000 acres).

Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge, towards sunset, winter

The water flows in the refuge have to be controlled artificially, and the vegetation has to be managed actively through irrigation and burning, to ensure that the wetlands remain productive, and provide adequate food and resting places for the birds. Between them, the refuges provide a range of habitats: seasonal marshes, uplands, permanent ponds, and riparian areas.

The refuges are provided with facilities for visitors, though these have to be limited to avoid conflict with their primary purpose of conservation. The layout of the wetlands has been planned to allow visitors a good view of the birds while minimising the risk of disturbance to them. There is a visitor's center at the Sacramento NWR, and routes for car tours on the Sacramento and Colusa sites, though visitors are allowed to leave their cars only at selected sites. There are walking trails at both those sites and also at the Sacramento River site. Limited hunting is permitted on some of the sites.

Over 300 species of birds and mammals use the refuges, not all of them migratory. Among those most likely to be seen by visitors (depending on the season) are:

• Grebes: Pied-billed Grebe, Eared Grebe
• Pelicans, Cormorants: American White Pelican, Double-crested Cormorant
• Herons etc: American Bittern, Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Black-crowned Night Heron, White-faced Ibis
• Ducks and geese: Mallard, Pintail, American Wigeon, Cinnamon Teal, Green-winged Teal, Bufflehead, Northern Shoveler, Ring-necked Duck, Wood Duck, Snow Goose, White-fronted Goose, Ross's Goose
• Raptors: Turkey Vulture, Osprey, White-tailed Kite, Northern Harrier, Red-tailed Hawk, American Kestrel, Golden Eagle, Bald Eagle (the eagles are not common, but there is a chance of seeing them).
• Waders and other shorebirds: Ring-necked Pheasant, Virginia Rail, Sora, Common Moorhen, American Coot, Killdeer, Black-necked Stilt, American Avocet, Greater Yellowlegs, Western Sandpiper, Least Sandpiper, Dunlin, Long-billed Dowitcher, Wilson's Snipe
• Gulls etc: Ring-billed Gull, Herring Gull
• Pigeons and doves: Mourning Dove
• Owls: Great Horned Owl
• Woodpeckers: Nuttall's Woodpecker, Northern Flicker
• Passerines: Western Kingbird, Yellow-billed Magpie, Tree Swallow, Cliff Swallow, Barn Swallow, Marsh Wren, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, European Starling, American Pipit, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, Savannah Sparrow, Song Sparrow, Lincoln's Sparrow, White-crowned Sparrow, Golden-crowned Sparrow, Dark-eyed Junco, Red-winged Blackbird, Western Meadowlark, Brewer's Blackbird, Brown-headed Cowbird, Bullock's Oriole, House Finch, House Sparrow
• Mammals: Black-tailed Jackrabbit, California Ground Squirrel, Black-tailed Deer.

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