Report Explores Value of Rice Fields for Wildlife

Scientists from the University of California, Davis and Point Blue Conservation Science released a new report on behalf of the California Rice Commission, “A Conservation Footprint for California Rice.” The report’s 13 authors identified the resource needs of key species that live among the state’s approximately 500,000 acres of rice fields, including snakes, birds, and fish. They developed a mapping framework that shows the acreage, locations, and management practices (such as winter flooding and post-harvest rice straw) that would most benefit each wildlife group. “This was a highly interdisciplinary effort that I don’t think has been attempted at this scale for California rice or perhaps any other California agricultural crop working with wildlife,” said report co-lead John Eadie.