Ingrained

Their journey is long and exhausting. For those who follow their travels, it’s exhilarating.

Every fall and winter, the Sacramento Valley becomes a key rest and refuel stop for millions of birds, as part of their annual migration along the Pacific Flyway, a wildlife highway in the sky.

Immediately after harvest, a shallow amount of water is added to rice fields, which quickly become home for ducks, geese, swans, cranes, shorebirds, Bald Eagles and many other migrating wildlife. Generations ago, rice fields were predominantly burned after harvest, to eliminate rice straw. Starting 30-years ago, growers shifted to shallow-flooding fields to decompose straw. It timed perfectly with the Pacific Flyway migration.

Rice grower Charley Mathews Jr

California has lost the vast majority of its original wetlands. However, Sacramento Valley rice fields have proven vital as ‘surrogate wetlands’ for nearly 230 wildlife species. In fact, rice fields provide more than 60 percent of the fall and winter diet for the 7 to 10 million ducks and geese every fall and winter in the Central Valley.

“It’s very unique,” remarked rice grower Charley Mathews, Jr, whose Marysville-area fields are frequently loaded with Tundra Swans, geese, ducks, and many other birds. “It’s kind of like having a national park in your own backyard. It’s very easy to access. There’s no payment or parking you have to pay for. Anybody can come out here at any time. It’s a great place!”

Xeronimo Castanada of Audubon California

Rice fields work well with local wildlife refuges to not only provide habitat, they afford bird watchers amazing viewing opportunities. Great viewing opportunities include the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge in Willows, Colusa National Wildlife Refuge and Gray Lodge Wildlife Area, among other valley stops. Also, be sure to keep watch for wildlife in nearby rice fields while on your journey.

“They key in on the rice fields that are flooded as good habitat,” said Xeronimo Castanada with Audubon California, among those in the conservation community working with rice farmers to maximize wildlife habitat. “It provides food. It provides shelter. It draws in millions and millions of ducks and geese, hundreds of thousands of shorebirds, and at any given time, you could be driving down the highway, and you’ll see a field just covered in waterfowl. Especially when they take off in flight, it’s something really special to see.”

California Rice Commission Wildlife Programs Manager, Luke Matthews

Luke Matthews is Wildlife Programs Manager with the California Rice Commission. He works with rice growers and many partners to help maximize their conservation work. He said there are currently three key programs to aid conservation – a winter flooding program with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, Bid4Birds through the California Ricelands Waterbird Foundation and an upcoming program with the US Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service, providing a wider suite of wildlife-friendly farming practices for growers to enroll in.

“People are really interested,” Matthews said. “These farmers really love their land, and they love to increase the wildlife benefit whenever they can.”

Seeing magnificent wildlife in rice country is not only special to bird lovers, it’s appreciated by rice growers, as well.

Rice grower Josh Sheppard

“I find myself taken aback sometimes,” said rice grower Josh Sheppard in Butte County. “It’s wonderful when you see millions of birds that are using an area, and, within a specific field, you’d have thousands of geese and ducks, all coexisting, all using that space. We’re not using these fields for growing crops during the winter time, but it’s got a great use. It’s got an important use, as far as the eco-diversity and the biological helpfulness that we can provide to the migratory waterfowl. It’s a just a really great feeling I have as a rice farmer, knowing that benefit exists, with just a little bit of water.”

Episode Transcript

Jim Morris: If you think about rice in California, these are the sounds that likely come to mind first: tractors working, high-speed low flying airplanes planting seed, and GPS-guided harvesters bringing in America's sushi rice. But in the fall and winter, the sounds from Sacramento Valley rice fields are different. We have ducks and geese by the millions, joy-filled sandhill cranes, large flocks of white-faced ibis, and majestic tundra swans.

Jim Morris: While many wildlife species thrive in rice fields throughout the year, including the fantastic American bittern, the original angry bird, black terns, the tremendously photogenic shorebird, the black-necked stilt, it's not unusual to hear from a western meadowlark in rice country. But there's something extra special about fall and winter in rice country, it's when rice fields really come alive.

Jim Morris: Welcome to Ingrained, the California rice podcast, I'm your host, Jim Morris, proud to have worked with California farmers and ranchers for 30 years. And this year's rice harvest is wrapped up, but fields are still full with equally precious contents, wildlife, millions of birds. I'm speaking with Josh Sheppard, a rice grower in Butte County. And Josh, you put just a few inches of water in the fields after harvest, it helps break down the straw, and then wildlife shows up. What kind of wildlife species do you see this time of year?

Josh Sheppard: We see a wide range of species. The ducks, everybody knows the mallards, the pintails. The teal are just awesome to see. They frolic around these fields, they're just playful like schoolyard children. And it's just great to see that. The bigger species, some geese, snow geese, dark geese, specklebellies, accompanied by the swan, a bigger creature and the sandhill crane, one of my favorites, a prehistoric long-legged bird makes a very unique sound.

Jim Morris: And I have to thank you Josh, because you let me know every year when you see your first sandhill, So I'm very grateful for that. And they are impressive six and a half foot wingspan, tremendous vocalizations, and a lot of joy too, which is something we need right now. And we also have bald eagles in the area. So how frequently do you see bald eagles in this Richvale Butte County area?

Josh Sheppard: I anticipate a lot of eagles showing up. This area in Richvale always hosts dozens of eagles. It's not uncommon to see 10 roosted in a tree. And we have a tree on one of our farms that is known as the eagle tree because that is a common perch for the eagle.

Jim Morris: How does it feel once you have the rice in, that you now see all of the wildlife here and that added value that rice provides in the Sacramento Valley?

Josh Sheppard: I find myself kind of taken aback sometimes when you see millions of birds that are in an area and then, within a specific field, you'd have thousands of geese and ducks, all coexisting, all using that space. And it's just wonderful to know that our off-season, we're not using these fields for growing crops during the winter time, but it's got a great use, it's got an important use as far as the eco-diversity and the biological helpfulness that we can then provide to the migratory waterfowl and just a really great feeling I have as a rice farmer, knowing that that benefit exists just from a little bit of water.

Jim Morris: I'm speaking with Charley Mathews Jr, a rice grower in Yuba County. Charley, tell me a little bit about this season and what you see out here.

Charley Mathews Jr: Well, there's lots of activity that's for sure. Harvest has quieted down. We had a good harvest season, no rain, dry, everything in and out of the field. But the thing that happened was that the geese showed up extra early. Not sure why that is, but usually for some reason, they know that when they get here, there's going to be water, there's rice left in the fields to eat, and we've been part of this migration pattern longer than human existence out here. And so timing is everything. You want to get harvested before the geese and the ducks show up and it worked out perfect this year. If you can hear in the backgrounds, there's thousands of snow geese, dark geese, Canadian geese, swans, ducks, everything's out here. It's a busy place. I live out here. I get to listen to this at night. It's kind of similar to somebody living next to the ocean, or a stream, or a highway. There's that constant background noise, but it's the noise that you know you're home.

Jim Morris: How has

Like clockwork every fall and winter, Sacramento Valley rice country welcomes millions of visitors. They’re here for several months, to rest and refuel, before continuing on their epic annual journey.

The millions of visitors are ducks, geese, shorebirds and many other birds that make the annual trek along the Pacific Flyway. Some come from as far north as Alaska and the Arctic and travel as far south as Chile and Argentina.

A fantastic way to view our seasonal visitors are wildlife refuges, and there are several outstanding options in the Sacramento Valley.

“The National Wildlife Refuge System in our country is the greatest network of protected lands anywhere in the world, if you care about wildlife, fisheries and habitat conservation,” remarked Paul Souza, Regional Director of the US Fish and Wildlife Service, California Great Basin. “In California, Nevada and the Upper Klamath Basin of Oregon, we care deeply about migratory birds. This is the heart of the Pacific Flyway. Coming through in the fall, we have a tremendous number of birds. Millions and millions of birds rely on the refuge complex.”

“Be prepared to be amazed,” said Curt McCasland, Refuge Manager with the Sacramento National Refuge Wildlife Complex. “In the Sacramento Valley, from November through January, this is an incredible place, where millions of birds stack into this area, visiting the national wildlife refuges, state wildlife areas, but also the ricelands in between those. Everything from clouds of geese to the sheer noisiness of these areas. It’s absolutely amazing!”

Photographer Sue Graue has made countless trips to local wildlife refuges, providing an awesome array of photos and building great memories. Especially during a year as challenging as 2020, she encourages people to take in the vibrant beauty at local refuges.

“It takes you away from the mundane parts of your daily challenges,” she said. “There are no challenges here. You can surrender to the moment.”

Sacramento Valley rice fields provide vital wildlife habitat to nearly 230 wildlife species. After harvest, a shallow amount of water is added to the fields to break down rice straw. This coincides with the Pacific Flyway migration, providing key habitat to millions of birds. Rice fields provide more than 60 percent of the fall and winter diet for the several million ducks and geese visiting the Central Valley every fall and winter.

Before your sushi roll or rice bowl, there’s a team effort to grow, harvest, mill and ship the fundamental ingredient – California rice.

Fall is a busy time in the Sacramento Valley, with GPS-guided harvesters bringing in more than four billion pounds of grain from a half-million acres of rice fields.

In Colusa County, America’s largest rice-growing area, Kim Gallagher continues the family tradition of her father and grandfather. Rice quality and production continue to rise, thanks to hard work, forethought and amazing advancements in technology.

Rice varieties have improved. Through conventional breeding advancements, California rice varieties are semi-dwarf, meaning they are shorter and produce more grain than what was planted in past generations. Also, newer varieties can be harvested earlier in the season, helping avoid pitfalls of rain during harvest.

Global Positioning System, or GPS technology, has dramatically changed planting, fieldwork and harvest.

“I’m having a little bit of fun with that this year,” Kim said. “We have the technology where I’m actually taking these yields, putting them on my laptop, looking to see where the yields are as the harvester is going through and counting how many grains are going through that harvester. It can tell me where my weak spots are in the field and where my strong spots are - where I have high yields. Then I can go back the next year and make decisions based on that yield, what I want to do with fertilizer and where the weeds were. There’s so much information now available.”

Kim said she shoots for 10,000 pounds of rice produced per acre, which reflects the amazing growth in productivity in California rice farming during the last 20 to 30 years.

Kim and her family run the Erdman Warehouse, which dries and stores more than 30-million pounds of rice each season. Rice is stored with its protective hull in place, which helps maintain its quality and shelf life before milling.

The former Biology Teacher is not only enjoying farming, but marvels at the diverse ecosystem found in rice fields.

“That’s probably the whole piece of the puzzle that makes this job so satisfying,” she remarked.

”There’s an enormous amount–millions of waterfowl that come in – and they eat first of all the rice and then the bugs. They just love living in our rice fields during the winter. Even after the waterfowl leave, we have all of these shorebirds. This is such an incredible crop. How many things can we feed? There are just so many different wildlife species that make their home out here. All through the year, you can find something amazing out here.”

California has long been a place with great scenery, diversity and creativity. Even with a challenging 2020, there are great places and interesting people hard at work.

John Bartell, a reporter for ABC 10-TV in Sacramento, has spent years chronicling the hidden gems of our state in Bartell’s Backroads, where he “uncovers unique sights and interesting people you might not find in the typical tour book.”

Some of the topics John has covered include harvesting Sea Monkeys (brine shrimp in Mono Lake), Bigfoot aficionados in the Gold Country (John says he has seen the legendary creature), Banana Slugs in Santa Cruz, carnivorous plants, tarantula mating season, Corning’s Giant Olive and many more.

“California is just amazing!” John remarked. “It’s such a huge state. We have so many different regions. So many different backgrounds with people, where it’s farming, the city. There is just really an immense amount of backroads. There are hidden little gems and people stories wherever you go.”

John grew up on a farm in Oregon and has a fascination for agriculture, something that is conveyed in his reports. His travels include covering rice seeding in the Sacramento Valley, which features fast-moving, GPS-guided airplanes.

“Northern California, the Sacramento Valley specifically, is an agricultural mecca,” he said.

“It’s so fun. I did a half-hour special just on some of what we grow in our state. It’s very fascinating to see!”

John’s work is similar to legendary PBS reporter Huell Howser, who left a major impression on many in his television reports. Howser passed in 2013, but his travel legacy lives on.

Here’s a link to find out more about Bartell’s Backroads, including an interactive map where you can plan your post-pandemic road trip. John said he welcomes story ideas.

Jim Morris: Dinosaurs in California? You bet!

John Bartell on video clip: The Cabazon Dinosaurs. From Interstate 10 in Riverside County, the two concrete beasts dominate the skyline.

Jim Morris: Are you a fan of banana slugs? This is for you.

Speaker on video clip: And then it's got a mouth which has more teeth in it than a great white shark.

John Bartell on video clip: That's a lot of teeth.

Speaker on video clip: Thousands and thousands of little tiny, tiny teeth.

John Bartell on video clip: Yeah. Now we're talking.

Jim Morris: Harvesting sea monkeys. Absolutely.

John Bartell on video clip: On the salty waters of Mono Lake, sea monkeys serve a much different purpose. John Bartell here on Mono Lake where we're doing a little brine shrimp fishing. You may know them as sea monkeys, but these guys are not just some obscure pets. They're actually fish food.

Jim Morris: Welcome to Ingrained, the California rice podcast. I'm your host, Jim Morris. Proud to have spent more than 30 years helping farmers and ranchers tell their stories. And today I'm thrilled to visit with someone bringing an alternative to the breakneck modern news cycle. John Bartell's career in news began in 2008 in Medford, Oregon. His multiple award winning career has taking him to Pennsylvania and Texas before where he currently works at ABC10 TV in Sacramento. And John, before we get into Bartell's Backroads, you have been doing some breaking news recently. So tell me a little bit about that. And you have to really work on the fly on these things. How about the Zinger Ranch shoot that you did in Vacaville recently?

John Bartell: Yeah, so you know it is fire season. Fire season is getting longer and longer in California now. And oftentimes, fire season takes me off of my normal path, which is Bartell's Backroads. And I get pulled into doing fire coverage. It's an animal sanctuary. I believe there's around 40 to 80 different types of just livestock that lives on this ranch there. And this was just one of these crazy moments where it's kind of settled in a canyon just outside of Vacaville, and a fire was coming on from the east and the west, down this canyon, right towards one of the livestock pens in there. This fire is rapidly moving down the hill. Oh my gosh, it is just moving here. Everyone around here is doing what they can to save these 40 animals. All right, the gate is open here. Ducks, I wish you well. The reason they can't remove these animals right now is because, one, it is extremely hard to get any large vehicles up here. Two, we are surrounded by flames. You can't just open up and let these animals out at this point. There's nowhere for them to go. Luckily, those fire crews, they did, what's called a backburn. A backburn is essentially you set the grass on fire, hoping to get it burn up all of the fuel before the major fire hits your area. And luckily, it worked.

Jim Morris: I believe you were responding to people almost real-time on Facebook, which was fascinating to me. And you were also saving the animals, in a way, with some of the steps you were doing. So how do you juggle all that in the field?

John Bartell: I have been in news since 2008, and it has just changed dramatically. We're doing these Facebook Lives. Everything is live now when you're going on there. So it's just me, my cell phone, and you're just telling what's happening at that very moment. And it is tough because you're working off a phone. And it is amazing in a sense because viewers can ask me questions as it's happening, and I can see what's going on. And it is a juggling act.

Jim Morris: So, Bartell's Backroads is described as the unique sites and interesting people you may not find in the typical tour book.

John Bartell: It's easy to take the same route. There's over 50,000 miles of California state highway. And it only takes you to well-known destinations. But, if you veer off the highway system, I mean really off it, away from the city streets, far from your neighborhood boulevard, you may just find yourself on one Bartell's Backroads.

Jim Morris: So, why is California such an ideal place for these kinds of stories?

John Bartell: I am not a Californian, a native one, anyways. I consider myself one now. I'm from Oregon, Northeastern Oregon. And I have discovered that California is just this amazing place. It is such a huge state. We have so many different regions, so many different backgrounds with people, whether it's farming, the city. There is really just an immense amount of backroads. And there's hidden little gems. There's people stories everywhere you go. And that's what Bartell's Backroads is. It's my discoveries along with my, "Hey, I'm going to pull off on this road and see what's down it." And a lot of it is just my discovery of California, being here, living here about four and a half years now.

Jim Morris: COVID-19, how has that affected what you do?

John Bartell: When COVID hit in March, about mid-March, the station, ABC10, decided that maybe it's not the best time to promote traveling at this time until everyone gets a handle on COVID. So for about two, two and a half months, almost three months, we did not run Bartell's Backroads. So that was a huge impact on there. But, before COVID hit, I was actually on a weeklong tour down in southern California. We had banked about 28 stories while we were down in Southern California. And then when the station decided, and the state of California, "Okay, you can socially distance, do these small travels to these remote areas," we decided, "Okay, it's time to start Bartell's Backroads up." So what you're seeing on broadcast and what you're seeing on the internet now was shot before March. We are still not currently recording any new Backroads at this moment. That is still to be announced when we will start filming new episodes.

Jim Morris: So when you do get back to that regular travel schedule, how many miles do you put in? How many hours? You may find the perfect subject, but it could be five-hours or more from Sacramento, right?

John Bartell: This show was really more of... It was a regional, as in we would cover 16 counties, our 16 county viewing area. That's what it started out at. Then it was northern California, and now it spans all of California. So I've had this goal of hitting all 58 counties in California. We are almost there. We've just got two, three counties left to finish up here. But yeah, it's not uncommon for us to travel 300-miles in a day to get some of these stories. And a lot of times, we'll pick up multiple stories throughout the day.

Jim Morris: When I see you, I think of Huell Howser. I suspect you may have heard that once or twice. And Huell, he's still on TV, and he's going to be on long past our time, I think. But how do you liken your work to Huell Howser, the similarities and perhaps the differences?

John Bartell: I have watched so many episodes of Huell Howser right now. I'm not going to lie. I do take a lot of ideas from Huell. He is a California expert. He's also someone that is not a California native. He's from Tennessee. And, so, I really look up to him. And he does have a different style than I did. He's very cheery. It's almost like a live style. What he does is it's basically one shot the whole time. It's funny that you actually brought t

Head north of Sacramento along any of the major freeways, you’ve likely seen the lush green rice fields with ubiquitous wildlife such as herons, hawks, and egrets. What may surprise you is just how diverse the rice field ecosystem is – and the unseen giants at home in those fields.

Nearly 230 wildlife species depend on Sacramento Valley rice fields for food and a resting place, including the giant gartersnake, a threatened species.

Although it has “giant” in its name, this creature is, at most, five-feet long. These snakes are heavily dependent on rice fields for their survival; having lost most of their earlier habitat – traditional wetlands, which have been lost over the generations.

Anna Jordan and Allie Essert of the U.S. Geological Survey are among those working to maintain and enhance the giant garter snake population. They work in rice fields, trapping and tracking the snakes. The more they understand about this species, the better chance it has at surviving. This is unusual work may not appeal to many, but these biologists love what they do.

“It’s really kind of funny. Whenever I tell people what my job is, the first question I get is ‘Why?’” Anna said. “It’s a hard question to answer. You don’t get that question when you’re an accountant or a doctor. I love what I do and I wouldn’t change it for the world.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYOZtOG4CDg

Those who don’t like snakes – and there are many in that category – may not realize how valuable they are.

“For all of the people who don’t like snakes, you probably don’t like pest species either,” Allie remarked. “Snakes do a lot to keep pest populations down. They help to regulate the ecosystem as an aquatic predator.”

Here are links to more information on this rice field giant:

• USGS Article - Construction and analysis of a giant gartersnake population projection model
• Article - Conservation reliance of a threatened snake on rice agriculture
• Article - Behavioral response of giant gartersnakes to the relative availability of aquatic habitat on the landscape
• WERC Scientists Find that Threatened Snakes Depend on Agriculture

Episode Transcript

Anna Jordan: It's really kind of funny. Whenever I tell people what my job is, the first question I get is, why? It's kind of a hard question to answer, because you don't get that question when you're an accountant or a doctor. So, it's definitely really interesting and I love what I do and I wouldn't change it for the world.

Jim Morris: Anna Jordan and her coworker, Allie Essert have really unusual jobs and I mean really unusual. But, what they and other colleagues are doing here in the rice fields of the Sacramento Valley, should pay big dividends for our ecosystem. Welcome to Ingrained, the California Rice Podcast. I'm your host, Jim Morris. Proud to have worked with California farmers and ranchers for 30 years. And today, I'm in the Natomas area at a rice farm, about a 15-minute drive from the state capitol. Sacramento Valley rice fields are home to nearly 230 wildlife species. And that includes millions of ducks and geese, more than a dozen types of raptors, and world-class habitat for shorebirds.

Jim Morris: In my travels, I've seen bald eagle parents teaching their young how to hunt in a rice field. I watched an epic grind of about 30,000 snow geese in one shallow flooded rice field in the winter. I had to stop while a river otter family crossed the road in Yolo County, that was awesome. And only yesterday in Colusa County, I watched a muskrat peek its head up from a small canal next to a rice field. One of the most unusual species we have is also heavily dependent on rice fields for its survival. It's the giant gartersnake. I'm speaking with Anna Jordan with the US Geological Survey. And can I ask what your title is and how long you've been working with giant garter snakes?

Anna Jordan: I am a wildlife biologist with the USGS and I'm also one of the project managers on our giant gartersnake project. And I've been working at the US Geological Survey since 2014. Basically right after I graduated college, I started and never stopped. And I loved it enough to start managing the project.

Jim Morris: How important is it to maintain this habitat? We have a lot of urbanization in this area. It's critical for the snakes, right?

Anna Jordan: So, the giant gartersnakes are a federally and state listed species. They are threatened. And the major reason for that is because of habitat loss. There used to be historically a lot of native wetlands, but like you said, with urbanization, a lot of those wetlands have been completely replaced by agriculture. And in some places that agriculture is orchards or sunflower fields, very dry crops, but giant gartersnakes are a wetland obligate species, which means they need water to survive. And, in the Sacramento Valley, which a lot of people may not know, we grow so much rice and this rice basically acts like a wetland for snakes, and it's what allows their population to exist at all. And so it's so important for them.

Jim Morris: So we're right along Highway 99, checking out traps and Anna, how many do you look at in a given time that you're out here?

Anna Jordan: So, our trap lines are made up of usually about 50 traps, but we can go upwards to a hundred, depending on how big the canal is because we want to get a good even sampling of the length of the canal. This one is only 50 and they're are about 10 to 20 meters apart. And that really just makes it so that, if we have a snake, we know that we're sampling the entire canal and where they could possibly be to get an idea of what the population is like there.

Jim Morris: Oh great. You have a very large pole and you're going to see what we have here. So why don't you go forward and do that please? And this is a trap that's what, about three feet long, I guess? What do you have in there?

Anna Jordan: Look at that. Lucky snake number one in trap number one. And there's also a crayfish with him, which is pretty common. There's a lot of crayfish and these rice fields, so that's a pretty common trap content. And here we go, this looks like an adult snake. I think it is a male, which you can tell by the length of their tail, but we do also probe them to check for the hemipene pockets.

Jim Morris: This one looks pretty lively and healthy to me, but you're the expert. So tell me about the overall health here.

Anna Jordan: Yeah, I would say the snake seems pretty healthy, rambunctious, lively, not super happy that I took him out of the water. But yeah, he looks great to me, no scars, nice full tail. Sometimes they will have blunt tails and that's usually from predation or sometimes the crayfish will even chop them a little bit. And that happens even without us trapping. We will measure the mass of the snake. And we will also measure the length, both from the snout to the vent, which is this right here. And then the vent to the tail, to give us an idea of how big the snake is and can help us determine the overall growth rate of the population and how big the snakes are. We will also mark each snake. This actually looks like a new snake. So, this is a snake we've never captured before, which is awesome because we've been out here trapping for 20 years and we're still catching new

The lush green color you see in the Sacramento Valley during summer is from a half-million acres of young rice fields. Those fields are not only beautiful to see, their ecosystem is impressive in its abundance and diversity.

“Rice ecosystems are fascinating marshes maintained by human beings,” said naturalist, artist and educator John Muir Laws. “Many of the birds have adopted these. You look at them – there’s shallow water and green plants growing out of them. That’s a great place to find food. That’s a great place to nest.”

Laws has made several treks to rice country, including with nature journalists, whose artwork chronicling their natural surroundings with enthusiasm, love and creativity. His new book with Emilie Lygren, “How to Teach Nature Journaling: Curiosity, Wonder, Attention,” is another in a long line of informative and inspiring books about our natural world.

Nearly 230 wildlife species depend on Sacramento Valley rice fields for their habitat, and early summer is a critical time for many. Shorebirds such as American Avocets and Black-necked Stilts are nesting and raising their next generation, as they have for generations. Additionally, White-faced Ibis, Egrets, Herons and many other birds are frequently seen and well-fed.

Seeing wildlife is a daily occurrence for rice grower Hans Herkert in Colusa County.

“It may be my favorite part of rice farming is the synergy between the rice farmers and wildlife,” he remarked. His two and a half-year-old daughter, Harper, occasionally joins him in the field and is an expert spotter of Snowy Egrets among the rice plants.

Greg Yarris is Science Coordinator for the Central Valley Joint Venture, a partnership of 19 organizations and agencies to improve bird habitat throughout the Central Valley.

As a biologist, he has a great appreciation for what rice fields provide for wildlife.

“When I see rice fields, I think of birds being fed, especially during the winter. But I also see an extensive breeding ground during the spring and summer. The beauty of rice fields is it provides year-round habitat. During the fall and winter, we get millions of ducks and geese that come down from the north, and during the spring and summer we have local Mallards, Cinnamon Teal and Gadwall that will make this home.”

Yarris said rice is so valuable to wildlife that, in the Joint Venture’s implementation plan, they have a goal to maintain at least 350,000 acres of shallow-flooded rice fields during the fall and winter. Since the vast majority of California’s original wetlands are gone, he said the value of rice fields to our environment is significant. “For us to replace the value of rice with comparable natural wetlands would be extremely difficult and not cost effective,” he said.

There are several programs working to help rice growers maintain or enhance wildlife habitat, including the Regional Conservation Partnership Program, BirdReturns, Bid4Birds and a complementary program with wheat growers.

Here’s a quick look at some of the wonderful wildlife found in rice fields during summertime

Here’s a link to much more information on wildlife in Sacramento Valley rice fields.

Episode Transcript

John Muir Laws: Rice ecosystems are fascinating marshes maintained by human beings. Many of the birds have adopted these. You look at them. There's shallow water and green plants growing out of them. That's a great place to find food. That's a great place to nest.

Jim Morris: Naturalist, artist, and educator John Muir Laws is passionate about rice farming in the Sacramento Valley. It provides food and a resting place for millions of birds. This time of the year, shorebirds nest and raise their next generation. Come along as we venture to the thriving ecosystem found in California rice fields.

Jim Morris: Welcome to Ingrained, the California rice podcast. I'm your host, Jim Morris, grateful to have worked for 30 years with farmers and ranchers. It's summer, and one of my favorite times of the year in the Sacramento Valley. You have the rice fields with a lot of color and plenty of wildlife getting food and rest. Here's more from John Muir Laws on two of the most common and beautiful shorebirds you can find in rice fields right now.

John Muir Laws: The black-necked stilt is a beautiful critter you can find in the rice fields. Bold, contrasting black and white body and incredibly long, bright red legs. And they will hunt by carefully stepping through shallow water and pecking at whatever little crustaceans or other small animals they can see in front of them. So, very, very small food types, so a long, thin, very precise bill.

John Muir Laws: American avocets have a beautiful orange head, soft orange color, and a contrasting black and white body. If you look carefully, you'll notice that their bill is not straight, but it curves up slightly at the tip. And what they'll do is they hunt by touch. So, they'll lower their head to the water surface and move it rapidly back and forth, side to side, side to side, side to side. And where they bump into a small crustacean floating in the water, gobble, gobble, gobble, they nibble it up and then go on to the next one. So, you'll see them doing this touch feeding as they slowly move forward through the water, their head going back and forth, back and forth in front of them.

Jim Morris: I'm in Colusa County at Hans Herkert's rice fields. It's such a peaceful environment out here, Hans. A little breezy today, but very nice. How has this year gone so far?

Hans Herkert: Yeah, good morning, Jim. It's gone really well so far. It's been an early season. In fact, this is the earliest season in my short tenure. I believe we've just finished planting my eighth rice crop. Started planting in late April and finished on the 21st of May this year.

Jim Morris: So, we're about a third of the way through the growing season, roughly, and that'll be a fall harvest. What are some of the things you see in these rice fields besides the plants themselves?

Hans Herkert: Lots of wildlife year-round. This time of year, we're seeing a lot of killdeer on the rollovers on the levees. They prefer that habitat. We're some avocets in the fields, some shorebirds, and some ducks, and ducklings this time of year as they're being weaned up.

Jim Morris: This is all compatible, right? You can grow a crop and also help the environment too?

Hans Herkert: Absolutely. I think it may be my favorite part of rice farming is the synergy between the rice farmers and the wildlife.

Jim Morris: There are conservation programs that help this whole cause. What are some of those that you know and have participated in, and how helpful are they?

Hans Herkert: They've been very helpful. I've participated in a few, Jim. My first involvement was with a program called BirdReturns, and I've also been involved with a program through the Natural Resources Conservation Service. And now, for the first time this year, a great program through the California Rice Commission, Bid4Birds. All three of those programs have been helpful to me as a beginning farmer and helpful to the environment and to the wildlife species that really are thriving out here.

Hans Herkert: I think I could probably say that if those programs didn't exist, wildlife would still flourish in rice fields. But my opinion of these programs are that they enable growers to enact practices, extend some of the practices that they're already doing, and enact some new practices on their operations, provide some funds to make it feasible. There's a certain cost to managing, and pumping water, and maintaining that shallow level of water on the field. And so, if we can manage water earlier in the season and later in the season, on those shoulders of the wildlife season in both the winter time and spring time, that's really what these programs are enabling us to do.

Jim Morris: I think it's wonderful to see the nests and to see generation after generation of wildlife out here. Do you have some favorite birds or ones that you see more often out here?

Hans Herkert: I definitely have a few favorites. Great-blue herons are the big ones, and they're fun to watch. I've got a two-and-a-half-year-old daughter, Harper, and she enjoys coming out here. I tell you, she can spot a snowy egret every bit as good as any three-year-old I know. She's really up to speed on her bird identification, and it's fun to watch her. We have a lot of bitterns, and they're not flashy birds, but I tend to like their personality. The American bittern is another favorite of mine.

Jim Morris: And they're looking at you like, "You don't really see me. You just think you do." Yeah, they're wonderful birds. And I love them too. You mentioned your daughter, and I want to talk a little bit about family. Your dad, Bob, left quite a legacy in California rice. One of the things that comes to my mind is when he brought author, M

It’s an annual occurrence throughout the Sacramento Valley; something countless motorists have seen while heading north of Sacramento – skilled pilots flying high-speed, GPS-guided airplanes, planting rice over a half-million acres of fields.

Rick Richter of Richter Aviation in Maxwell, Colusa County, has been seeding rice fields since 1979. It’s not only his profession, it’s also a great passion for him.

“It’s so rewarding to see that rice come up,” Richter remarked. “It’s a beautiful green within a week or two after you plant it, and the whole area turns into just a magic carpet. You watch it all summer long, and then it comes to a golden yellow/brown at harvest, and you just get that feeling that I did this. I provided part of this 500,000-acres in this valley for people around the world to use. It just hits home, I’ll tell you.”

May is a spectacularly busy month for rice seeding in California. Pilots frequently work before sunup and after sundown to keep up with the workload.

One of the biggest advancements in this effort is Global Positioning System (GPS) technology, which provides tremendous accuracy for the pilots, who often exceed 100-mph while seeding fields.

Safety is a crucial element for ag pilots, who operate under strict state and federal regulations. Richter said an extremely helpful program is the Professional Aerial Applicator Support System (PASSS Program), which has been running for more than 20 years, and has proven to lower accident rates.

The role agricultural pilots play in farming is huge. Rice grower Kurt Richter relies on the pinpoint work of his cousin Rick and Rick’s son, Nick, to seed his rice fields.

“The pilot plays a huge role in the quality of the product that you’re going to put out at the end of the season,” Kurt said. “The seed application just in and of itself is one of the most important applications of the year…. A good quality pilot can definitely make or break any particular crop.”

Here are more comments from Kurt on the important role agricultural pilots play:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKA5CDchSX8

For more information on agricultural pilots, here’s a link to the California Agricultural Aircraft Association.

Episode Transcript

Jim Morris: California rice holds many surprises. Whether it's the vital wildlife connection, the scale and efficiency of growing and milling rice, or the billions of dollars this industry generates for our economy, the impacts are huge. One of the most surprising facets of California rice is happening here in mid spring, planting the crop via airplane, and it is an amazing process.

Jim Morris: Welcome to Ingrained, the California Rice Podcast. I'm your host, Jim Morris, and I've been helping farmers and ranchers tell their story for 30 years. I'm in the Sacramento Valley today covering an important part of the rice growing season.

Jim Morris: I'm in Colusa County speaking with Rick Richter of Richter Aviation, and you've been an ag pilot for more than 40 years. Let's start with the early days. What was your background and what interested you in this profession?

Rick Richter: Well Jim, I started out with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Agriculture from Chico State College. It was just so hard back then to try to get into farming, which was what I wanted to do. I had a passion for aviation, so I learned to fly while going to Chico State. When I got to Maxwell, I was looking for opportunities to work and my cousin had just started this business here east of Maxwell, crop dusting business, in 1976. It was perfect timing for me. I talked with him, Paul Richter, and he made a spot for me and we started loading airplanes, and from then it grew to flying their planes, and, three years later, in 1979 was my first a year as an ag pilot.

Jim Morris: And so 41 years in, that's an amazing run. How many flights or hours would that be in the air?

Rick Richter: Jim, that's about 22,000 hours to date, counting all my flying, which isn't much in the general aviation side. It's mostly ag flying.

Jim Morris: Do you ever have dreams about flying when you're resting or can you leave the 9:00 to 5:00 at the office?

Rick Richter: It's tough. It's tough. This is our life this time of year. We do five months out here from May to August in the rice business. It's a every day, 4:00 in the morning until dark. Sometimes in the summer, usually around the 4th of July, we'll get a break and start getting Sundays off, so it's kind of a treat for us.

Jim Morris: It is a busy time right now in the spring. Tell me what an average day looks like in terms of seeding the rice fields.

Rick Richter: Well we're up at 4:00 in the morning, we're here at 5:00 to 6:00, the crews roll in, we're out on the jobs by 6:30 and from then until dark sometimes we're out, depending on the workload.

Jim Morris: What happens when they're seeding? You have a pre-germinated seed. I mean, just walk me through some of the major steps in it. It's fascinating to see that seed being loaded. They're working like an Indy pit crew, I think.

Rick Richter: Oh yeah, we pride ourselves on the speed that it takes, that we can get the load out. The seed is soaked for at least 24 hours prior to our applications. It's brought to us in bulk trailers, bulk semi-truck trailers, to the airstrips, usually the closest strip within two miles of the field so we can make our turnarounds quicker and get more done.

Jim Morris: What speed can you travel? What's the highest speed and what's the lowest altitude you might be traveling depending on the circumstances of each rice farm?

Rick Richter: Well, we're probably seeding rice about 30 feet in the air, depending on the wind. The windier conditions require a lower altitude, but spraying, we're within 10 feet of the crop and going about 120 to 130 miles per hour on some of the more modern turbine aircraft. Some of the faster ones will go up to 150, and that's moving fast compared to the old days when it was just 100 miles an hour in an old Ag Cat. The professional ag pilots that we have nowadays don't leave anything for granted. We take pride in what we do and we want to be there for our children and our families at the end of the day.

Jim Morris: Talk about the change in technology since when you started and the importance of global positioning system, GPS.

Rick Richter: GPS is the biggest breakthrough that's ever come to this industry, and it just changed it forever. It's amazing we can get within three feet of our swath and multiple swaths at a time, the fields all laid out for us, hardly any problems. It's just amazing what it did. It took away the job from the flaggers and the crews that we had to position on each field, and it allowed it for much more efficiency in the operation.

Jim Morris: The term crop duster comes up a lot, much more than the term ag pilot. What's the name that you think is most fitting?

Rick Richter: Crop duster is just an old moniker from the back of the old days when they dusted crops. But nowadays they're professional pilots. We are required to have training, continuing education every year, licensed by the state, licensed by the Federal Aviation Regulations as commercial pilots. And the operators are actually licensed as commercial ag operators. So there's plenty of regulation in our business. We take it in stride. We understand that we need to have that to keep our skills honed and to protect the crop protection materials.

Jim Morris: You have the good fortune of working with your son. When did that start and how does that make you feel, because you're getting closer to retirement?

Rick Richter: It just makes me feel great. He's such a major link in this operation. We're getting in the process of turning it over to him. It's kind of hard for me to let go of the reins. The good thing about it, he understands that, and he's taking that in stride. He knows that someday it'll be all his to worry about.

Jim Morris: This is Nick, and you have a traditional looking yellow airplane and he has a white one that looks a little different. Now I'm no aviation expert. Tell me the difference of what you fly and what Nick flies.

Rick Richter: Well I'm flying a 1979 biplane, and he's flying a 2011 Thrush S2R with a Pratt Whitney engine on it. It goes faster. It carries the same amount of speed, but it's a sleeker, modern-looking airplane, probably the wave of the future. The old biplanes are kind of being in a thing of the past, but they're good, strong, sturdy airplanes and they're more suited to our country where the fields are maybe smaller. You can get a tighter turn out of it. But he enjoys that speed and the wider swath that he gets with the larger wing on that airplane.

Jim Morris: With the COVID-19 crisis, agriculture has rightly been deemed an essential industry. And, of course, it's easy here in Maxwell to see that with farms and farm-related industries. But what's your comment about the value of agriculture to California?

Rick Richter: It's worth so much to our economy here in California. I'm not sure of the numbers, but just the rice business alone contribute so much to the local economy. Everybody's job in this area depends on rice.

Tractors are working ground, airplanes are flying and mills are in full production, marking another busy spring in Sacramento Valley rice country.

There are marked differences this year compared to recent history, starting with the weather. A dryer spring has enabled growers to get a much earlier start on working ground for planting.

“We're probably two-and-a-half, maybe close to three weeks ahead of where we were last year,” remarked grower Mike DeWit. “I don't know what a normal year is anymore, but we're at least two weeks ahead.”

GPS-guided tractors and airplanes help rice growers be as efficient as they can – getting the most out of resources including water and maximizing production. For consumers, that translates into a consistent supply of premium-quality rice.

2020 will long be remembered globally for COVID-19. While the important work of sheltering in place continues, farmers and mills are carefully proceeding with their vital work of producing food. Rice is deemed as an essential industry in California, as is agriculture as a whole. Many steps have been taken at the farm and mill level to protect employees.

“My foreman, Luis Beltran has been with me for 12 years now, and has taken the COVID situation real seriously,” DeWit said. “He's got the Clorox wipes. He's got the nitrile gloves. He's got everything the guys need, and makes sure they're well supplied in the tractors.”

On rice farms, social distancing is the norm. Tractor operators frequently work fields spanning hundreds of acres with no other workers nearby.

Rice mills have also adapted rigorous additional steps for employee safety.

“We have stepped up our sanitation, we have people who now their sole purpose is to sanitize and disinfect all surfaces in the facility,” said Jennifer Kalfsbeek, Senior Vice President and Chief Operations Officer at Sun Valley Rice in Colusa County, one of more than a dozen rice mills in the Sacramento Valley. “We've actually put up some clear window barriers in places where truck drivers would be in contact with our employees. We have an adequate supply of personal protective equipment and cleaning supplies. We've expanded our supply vendors to meet our needs, so we have added additional sanitation pumps throughout the facility, and increased sanitizing our truck driver areas.”

Kalfsbeek added that there is some natural social distancing in the mill. They have also staggered breaks and lunch times to help maintain social distancing.

The consumer response to COVID-19 has included less demand for rice from restaurants and much more demand at retail. Kalfsbeek said retail orders have started to slow and consumers should soon begin seeing more rice in supermarkets.
Here’s a link to more information on employee safety on California rice farms and mills.

Episode Transcript

Jim Morris: Springtime in the Sacramento Valley means it's rice planting time. I'm in Robbins in Sutter County as tractors are working ground, and a new crop will soon be planted. Welcome to Ingrained, The California Rice Podcast. I'm your host, Jim Morris. This is my 30th year working with farmers and ranchers to help tell their stories.

Jim Morris: Today I'm in Sutter County, and especially during this period of incredible challenge with COVID-19 it is so nice to see growers getting fields ready for a new season. This is a brief field trip with plenty of social distancing. Agriculture in California is essential and designated as such. So with proper precautions, farmers and mills are continuing their important work. I'm with grower Mike Dewit. Mike, we have tractors working. What's happening today?

Mike DeWit: Well, we're on our third operation across this field, just trying to dry up the ground. What we're doing now is a chisel plow, and we're just getting that last little bit of moisture exposed to these nice warm days we've had the last few days.

Jim Morris: What other steps will need to take place before you plant the rice this year?

Mike DeWit: This particular field, we will disc it one more time just to smooth out some of those bigger clods that are out there. Then we'll level it one time with a GPS scraper. Then we'll apply the fertilizer, the water, and plant it. I've got May 5, May 6 in mind for a planting date. So, it's another three weeks of groundwork. Mostly it's just time letting the ground dry up.

Jim Morris: You mentioned GPS, there is a lot of high-tech equipment being used. Can you comment about that?

Mike DeWit: Yeah. It's a GPS scraper that we roll across the field, and it's just a scraper. What it does is, the GPS system tells the scraper itself when to cut ground, when to fill ground. It's all done by the GPS, and it just takes a good operator, and drive a straight line, and it happens.

Jim Morris: But also airplanes use GPS, and I mean the technology has really changed over the decades, hasn't it?

Mike DeWit: It's been incredible this GPS technology. It's allowed us to save money and fuel because the tractor drives a straighter line. It's allowed us to have precisely leveled fields with the scrapers. The airplanes, it's eliminated a lot of their labor force because they can do it without the flaggers at the end of the fields. It's been incredible, and again, there's so much more to it that I'm not in tuned with. I'm old school. I like doing things the old way, but I sure see the benefits, and I've reaped the benefits. I just got to learn it.

Jim Morris: More rice for consumers, and also more efficient water use?

Mike DeWit: Oh, absolutely. Yeah. It's cut our water use quite a bit with the precision leveling. We don't have the high spots that we need to cover. We can have the straight contours, and our checks make them perfect rectangles. It's just been a benefit to everybody involved.

Jim Morris: This is a much different year than we've had in recent years. Tell me about the timeframe that you've seen so far, and how helpful that is.

Mike DeWit: We're probably two-and-a-half, maybe close to three weeks ahead of where we were last year. I don't know what a normal year is anymore, but we're at least two weeks ahead.

Jim Morris: You mentioned your workers, and we have a wide open area here in Sutter County. Tell me a little bit about your care for the workers, not only now, but in this COVID-19 era.

Mike DeWit: We're well prepared. I appreciate these guys. I can't do it without them. I have one in particular, my foreman, Luis Beltran, he's like a brother to me. He's been with me for 12 years now, and has taken the COVID situation real seriously. He's got the Clorox wipes. He's got the nitrile gloves. He's got everything the guys need, and makes sure they're well supplied in the tractors.

Jim Morris: Social distancing in the city and the country possibly look a little differently, particularly out here in rice country. Tell me what social distancing looks like here in Robbins.

Mike DeWit: Well, if you had a camera right now, you could look around. I've got one guy on this tractor in a 300-acre field, and just to the east of him there's another guy on a tractor in a 300-acre field, so they're no closer than a half mile apart at any given time during the day.

Jim Morris: What's the timeframe then once that crop is planted? Will you be harvesting, and are you optimistic based on the weather we've had at least to date?

Mike DeWit:<

In less than a minute, a large group of young salmon were released into the Sacramento River, en route to the Pacific Ocean.

These were no ordinary fish. Equipped with small transmitters, these baby salmon are part of a pilot project by the California Rice Commission and UC Davis. Grown in rice fields of Yolo County, scientists hope to find ways that the farm-raised fish will add to the dwindling wild salmon population.

This is part of a larger effort to reconnect the Sacramento Valley flood plains; strategically adding water to the landscape to benefit our environment.

“The flood plain is really core to the historical ecology of the Central Valley,” remarked Andrew Rypel, Associate Professor and Peter Moyle and California Trout Chair of Coldwater Fish at the Department of Wildlife, Fish and Conservation Biology at UC Davis. “Once upon a time, before people were over here, there was a lot of water up in the mountains. The snow would melt in the spring, it would come down and spread out across the central valley. The whole valley was once a huge flood plain. A huge wetland. Abundant Tule plants. Fish, Wildlife. That’s all gone now. But what we do have is we have a lot of rice field habitat, anywhere in the neighborhood of 500,000 acres. We need to figure out how we can use those habitats smartly, to help fish that have evolved using flood plain habitats historically to help boost the populations.”

“As many know, fish and farms have often been pitted against each other in California,” Rypel said. “It turns out that they might be able to help each other in the long run.”

If the research results are positive, it could eventually lead to many Sacramento Valley rice fields being used to grow salmon each winter.

“Ultimately we would like to develop what we would call a conservation practice standard,” said Paul Buttner, Environmental Affairs Manager of the California Rice Commission.

“We do this for bird habitat already, where we figure out what we want the growers to do to enhance their fields for habitat. Then we develop a practice that comes with a cost share payment for those that choose to participate.”

Here’s a link to find out more about our salmon project, including the sponsors that provide vital support for the research.

Episode Transcript

Jim Morris: This is an interesting spot for a field trip. I'm in Knights Landing. To my right is the Sacramento River and to my left are rice fields at River Garden Farms. And there's something unusual this year. There are enclosures raising juvenile salmon. This is year two of our pilot project. Hopefully, the results here will help California’s salmon population in the future.

Jim Morris: Welcome to Ingrained, the California Rice Podcast. I'm your host, Jim Morris. At the time of this recording, our world is struggling with COVID-19. My thoughts are with all and my hope is that something positive will come on this front very soon. We're following up on our previous episode, helping salmon. This is year two of the California Rice Commission's Pilot Salmon Project. And today is a big day as salmon raised on this farm are being readied for their journey to the ocean. I'm speaking with Andrew Rypel, who is associate professor and Peter Moyle and California Trout Chair of Coldwater Fish at the Department of Wildlife, Fish and Conservation Biology at UC Davis. So Andrew, it's kind of a big day today in this project. What's happening?

Andrew Rypel: We're seeing kind of a culmination of a lot of fieldwork that's happened over the winter here. We've been rearing baby salmon on rice fields for over a month now and they're now finally of size. We're putting transmitters in them and we're tracking them as they make their journey out to the ocean.

Jim Morris: And transmitters, I mean, technology has come a long way. So how accurate are they and how much can you learn from these transmitters?

Andrew Rypel: They're very accurate. So we're using acoustic transmitters, which means they transmit sound information. I wish we could use GPS tags like they do on turtles and wolves and things like that. But unfortunately, that signal doesn't penetrate water. So we have to use something called acoustic telemetry technology, that's we're putting in these, they're really the smallest available tags on the market and we're putting them in salmon as small as 72 millimeters in length. They transmit sound out into the river and we have an array of receivers deployed in the river, run by NOAA. And the detections are picked up on that array as they make their way out to the ocean.

Jim Morris: And how far of a journey is it in terms of length or time?

Andrew Rypel: Well, it's out to the Golden Gate and it usually takes them, well it depends on the water year, but anywhere between a few weeks to a couple of months. Usually, in years where it's wet and there's a lot of water in the river, they tend to hold and they don't go out as fast. In years that are a little bit dryer like this one, they tend to get out quicker.

Jim Morris: There is not a 100 percent survival rate at a farm or in the wild. And can you talk a little bit about that? There are a lot of challenges if you're a salmon in California.

Andrew Rypel: Yeah, that is the crux of the issue here. Survival of juvenile salmon. Out migration, survival into the ocean is low in California. It typically runs anywhere between three to six percent. So that's a lot of death on their way to the ocean. And it's a big reason why salmon populations are struggling in California. There's good information out there. For example, from the Columbia River that suggests that the smolt to adult return rate needs to be around two percent to have a good stable population. And we typically see smolt to adult return ratios in California below one percent. so the amount of survivorship that occurs during this critical part of salmon's life history can really make a difference in having a growing salmon population or a declining salmon population.

Andrew Rypel: So what we think is that by rearing salmon on managed floodplain habitat and that's what we're calling rice fields here, they can grow bigger, faster, get out in the river earlier and have increased survivorship that might increase that percentage up a good bit.

Jim Morris: Moving forward, there's a lot of effort to reconnect that floodplain. And can you explain what that means?

Andrew Rypel: The floodplain is really core to the historical ecology of the Central Valley. Once upon a time, before people were over here, there was a lot of water up in the mountains, the snow would melt in the spring. It would come down and spread out across the Central Valley. And really the whole valley was once a huge flood plain, a huge wetland, abundant Tule plants, fish, wildlife. That's all gone now. But what we do have is we have a lot of rice field habitat, anywhere in the neighborhood of 500,000 acres. So what we really needed to figure out is how we can use those habitats smartly to help fish that have evolved using floodplain habitats historically to help boost the populations. And I love the story because, as many know, fish and farms have often pitted against each other in California and it turns out they might actually be able to help each other in the long run.

Jim Morris: But the key for this aspect of it would be rice. Rice is a different crop than others and it works best for this application, is that correct?

Andrew Rypel: Rice is basically an agricultural floodplain. It's shallow, it's productive. We're just not using it for fish and wildlife the way we could yet.

Jim Morris: So once the tags are done and in and the fish are released, then there's a lot of monitoring. How long does all that take?

Andrew Rypel: We

Rice fields in the Sacramento Valley are remarkably productive and versatile. From spring into fall, they produce virtually all of America’s sushi rice. In the fall and winter, those same fields are home to millions of birds. What’s next? A promising pilot project could help inform us as to how rice fields can help restore dwindling salmon populations.

Throughout the Sacramento Valley, researchers are studying the prospect of reconnecting the historic flood plain, through getting the ‘bug buffet’ found in shallow-flooded rice fields returned to the river to supplement the food supply for migrating salmon.

Additionally, this is year two of an exciting project to raise salmon in rice fields. Through the Rice Commission, UC Davis and California Trout, thousands of juvenile salmon are being raised in rice fields at River Garden Farms in Knights Landing. When they’re ready, these fish will be microchipped and studied as they leave the farm en route to the ocean.

Hopefully, this research will pave the way to have rice fields provide the type of boost to salmon that they have for the Pacific Flyway.

“What’s incredible is the way the rice industry has decided to mesh with the environment, in such ways that include tracking salmon from Knights Landing all the way to the Golden Gate Bridge. How does that factor in to growing rice, but it does,” remarked Jack Armstrong of the Armstrong & Getty Radio Show, after visiting the pilot project and speaking with participants.

With the vast majority of California’s historic wetlands gone, there’s increased reliance of rice fields as ‘surrogate wetlands,’ not only for birds but perhaps to help salmon, too.

“I think they are the difference maker,” said Andrew Rypel, Associate Professor and Peter Moyle Chair of Cold Water Fish Ecology at UC Davis.” If we don’t figure out this problem with rice fields, we’re going to be in a lot worse situation if we lose those rice fields. We really need to figure this out. All of the evidence supports the idea that these are incredible habitats for fish.”

The Rice Commission’s Pilot Salmon Project is made possible through sponsors, including the US Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service, Syngenta, The Bechtel Foundation and many others. Here’s a complete listof our valued sponsors.

Episode Transcript

Jack Armstrong: What's incredible is the way the rice industry has decided to mesh with the environment in such ways that include tracking salmon from night's land in California all the way to the golden gate bridge. How does that factor in with growing rice, but it does.

Jim Morris: Jack Armstrong of the Armstrong and Getty Radio Program. Innovation is a hallmark characteristic of California rice and a new chapter is underway, raising salmon and rice fields in an effort to help supplement the state's dwindling fish population.

Jim Morris: Welcome to Ingrain, the California rice podcast. I'm your host, Jim Morris. I've been working with farmers and ranchers for 30 years helping tell their stories. Rice is known as the environmental crop and for good reason, millions of birds spend their fall and winter and rice fields. Nearly 230 wildlife species in all live in rice fields. In fact, you might be able to hear the blackbirds in the background here at River Garden Farms in Yolo County where a new chapter is underway. It's a pilot effort to raise salmon in rice fields. It's a windy day here on the farm, but that's actually helpful for researchers in their efforts. I'm with Rachelle Tallman from UC Davis grad student and you're playing a significant role here at the pilot salmon project, and how are things going?

Rachelle Tallman: So far, so good. The fish are growing really well out here on the rice fields, warm temperatures and for the most part, good oxygen. So they're doing pretty good. Soon, we might have to start moving things around just because we're starting to enter an early spring. So that's something that we're keeping on the radar.

Jim Morris: We've had two years of this. Last year's weather was completely different than this year. So what was the challenge last year and what's the challenge this year?

Rachelle Tallman: Yeah, I think last year with all the water we had, the challenge is actually getting to our cages and checking the fish. So it made it really difficult for data collection. This year has been a lot easier data collection wise because again, the bypass is inactive and we're on the dry side of it. The challenging part this year though is because we're not getting the kind of rain or precipitation, we're dealing with warmer temperatures and that's something to be concerned about when we have fish that need to be of a certain size for us to work with them.

Jim Morris: So years back, a few years back, did you imagine you would be working in rice fields raising salmon?

Rachelle Tallman: No, I definitely knew I was going to be doing salmon, but not in rice fields. That was probably the most unexpected part.

Jim Morris: What do you think after you've had a couple of years under your belt with this?

Rachelle Tallman: I have so much respect for rice farmers and what they can do because I feel like I've had to take a crash course in how to maintain flow levels and I give huge thanks to River Garden and Conway from last year helping me figure this out because it's a lot more difficult than you think. On paper, it comes off as one way and then when you actually have to implement it, it's really hard.

Jim Morris: Obviously, you need to get more information before there is a conclusion, but what are your thoughts about down the road and the role rice fields could play for salmon?

Rachelle Tallman: Yeah, I think it's really interesting. This year, we had a new component that we didn't have last year, which was adding habitat complexity to the plots and I'm really interested to see how that impacts survival. There's some data that suggests that once we're putting fish in these fields, they have really high mortality. So it'd be actually very interesting to see what the survival is while we're just growing them and then ultimately, seeing how many can we get to the golden gate.

Jim Morris: You talk about some different avenues this year, i.e. Christmas trees in the field, et cetera. What are some of the things that you're doing that you're testing?

Rachelle Tallman: Yeah. So with the plots, there's eight of them and there's four treatments. So we have the Christmas trees, canals, Christmas trees and canals, and then we have control groups. We're kind of looking at the growth between the different plots, like the fish growth, as well as a survival to see if there is a difference in doing these treatments or not.

Jim Morris: There is a lot of hard work going on here and no one has much downtime. So tell me about some of the activities and all of the hard work here.

Rachelle Tallman: Yeah, this project really wouldn't have been possible without the hardworking staff of the Thingy and Rypel Lab, as well as the BioTelemetry group. Each week, we're going out and walking these eight half acre plots, as well as seining them, PIT tagging them and then eventually, we'll be acoustic tagging them. So it really takes an army of people to get this project off the ground.

Jim Morris: Seining in particular, looked at especially excruciating. So tell me what seining is for those who don