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For the birds (and cattle): Plan opens door for new habitat, public access to thousands of acres
Davis Enterprise -
July
25,
2007
By Cory Golden
For the birds (and cattle): Plan opens door for new habitat, public access to thousands of acres
Davis Enterprise – 7/26/07
By Cory Golden, staff writer
A new land management plan may open the way for increased habitat restoration and public access to the Vic Fazio Yolo Wildlife Area.
When the California Department of Fish and Game purchased 13,062 additional acres for $16 million, officials made assurances that the state would not greatly alter farm and ranchland until such a plan had been crafted.
Under the plan released Tuesday, most of that land likely will remain in agriculture.
The greatest change for visitors may someday be better access to much of that land purchased in 2001, including the 10,000-acre Tule Ranch, with its vernal pools, wildflowers and native grasses.
Until now, the property has been open only for guided tours.
“There's a lot of beautiful country down there that people are going to be excited about seeing,” said Robin Kulakow, executive director of the Yolo Basin Foundation. “It's a chance to imagine what old California may have been like, to do things like show people a field of purple needlegrass that's never been plowed.”
The management plan:
- Details a history of the 16,700 total acres and the farming, restoration and educational efforts made there;
- Describes the extensive agreements between governmental agencies that allowed Wildlife Area's creation and guide its use;
- Addresses flood control - still the chief purpose of the Yolo Bypass, an overflow area for the Sacramento and American rivers - mosquito abatement and still-developing research about mercury generation by wetlands;
- Catalogs wildlife - including 200 birds species - and plants;
- Underscores the integral role of farming and ranching; and
- Lays out a grocery list of goals, allowing for more restoration, public access and educational programs.
The dictionary-sized document took more than a year to finish, at a cost of $200,000.
It was pieced together by the environmental consulting firm EDAW with Fish and Game, which operates the Wildlife Area; the nonprofit Yolo Basin Foundation, which helped establish the area and now provides its educational programs; and hydrology consultants Philip Williams and Associates.
Wildlife area manager Dave Feliz said that, with regular updates, the plan should guide land-use decisions well into the future.
Commuters crossing the Yolo Causeway are unlikely to see dramatic changes in the mosaic of wetlands, farming and ranching. Instead, Feliz said, “it's more of a philosophical shift.”
“In the past we were maintaining an existing ag operation and learning how to use that to achieve our habitat goals,” he said. “Now we'll apply what we've learned. We won't be growing crops for the income - though that definitely benefits us - but for activities geared toward habitat goals.”
For the public, the plan may lead to:
- An expanded driving route through the area and possibly a new southern driving loop;
- More and better fishing access;
- More educational and volunteer opportunities; and
- New walking trails.
New possibilities
Feliz said the property purchased in 2001, which also holds wetlands managed privately for a century and a decades-old barn, can provide history lessons. The land's past includes Native American culture, market hunters who brought game birds to the region's cities and decoy carvers, as well as farming and ranching.
The plan opens up other possibilities for public access. Feliz said it doesn't call for bike paths, for example, but he would welcome a linking to a regional trail system with a ground-level bike path alongside Interstate 80.
New partnerships with neighbors Davis and West Sacramento also could be in the offing.
To the west, Feliz imagines a restored Putah Creek corridor from city of Davis land to the Wildlife Area, while maintaining a buffer of agriculture between the Wildlife Area and the city. To the east, perhaps a trail along the Sacramento River deep water ship channel.
Planning also continues for the proposed Pacific Flyway Center, a visitors center.
The amount of acreage dedicated to permanent wetlands likely will increase, however, the focus will remain on “seasonal wetlands for seasonal birds.”
Feliz said seasonal wetlands are more easily maintained for flood protection; more compatible with other water users, because the Wildlife Area pumps most of its water when farmers aren't; and allows the mosquito-control agency to treat for larvae just after an area is flooded, rather than battle multiple generations of the bugs. Seasonal wetlands also better mirror the valley before development.
Money's an issue
All of the plan's new goals will require more money and staff.
When the Wildlife Area suddenly increased more than fivefold, its staff didn't. Fish and Game continues to operate it with four full-time employees.
To complete the entire list of goals would require adding an estimated 14 1/2 permanent staff members with a total salary of about $800,000. That figure does not include temporary workers, equipment or additional office space.
The Wildlife Area's funding comes from cigarette taxes, environmental license plates, farm leases and an excise tax on firearms and ammunition. Its current annual budget, not including grant money, is about $200,000 for all salaries, $600,000 for all other costs.
While some may have imagined the land returning only to wetlands when the state bought the land, Feliz said Fish and Game has come to better appreciate the value of farming and ranching.
“We would never eliminate agriculture because, frankly, it's the best way of achieving our goals,” he said.
Land use changes from year to year, based on flooding. Some 9,000 acres are now being grazed, with about 1,500 acres planted with rice, 500 with organic tomatoes and 200 with corn. The rest is habitat.
Agriculture meshes well with flood control, Feliz said, and plays a key role in attracting birds and other wildlife.
Rice fields are left fallow on a rotating basis, with water provided for shorebirds during off years. Milo and corn attract pheasants. Cattle are the first choice to keep vegetation under limits set for flood control, before herbicides or mowing.
The plan calls for maintaining existing ag leases, which are managed by the Dixon Resource Conservation District. They generate about $300,000 a year - an amount that has in the past proved key in the face of state budget cuts.
The four tenant farmers are also an important resource, Feliz said.
“They have knowledge about things like how water is moved around this place. They're very skilled at what they do,” he said. “And, truth be told, it helps us with our personnel shortage.”
Feliz said a lack of available funding and man hours hindered completing the plan sooner. The good news: the extra time allowed for a better understanding of the land's resources and how they could best be cared for, he said.
The final plan also relies on contributions from the Yolo Bypass Working Group. It includes government agencies, landowners, farmers, hunters and others with a direct interest in the bypass. Public meetings on a variety of topics were also held.
“One of the things that's most exciting to me is how (the management plan) achieves a balance of compatible uses,” said project manager Chris Fitzer of EDAW, the consulting firm. “This is land that's hugely important for flood control and is important because of its diverse habitat. It has agriculture and it has appropriate public uses, like hunting, bird viewing and education.”
The plan's lessons are already being put to use - in China.
EDAW asked permission to use portions of it in a new book on wetland restoration created with the Chinese government.
Kulakow of the Yolo Basin Foundation said the plan surely will be a guide for others, too.
“I find it an inspirational model for what land management needs to be in the future, with agriculture, habitat, public access and flood control all working together,” she said. #
http://www.davisenterprise.com/articles/2007/07/26/news/161new0.txt
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