Sandhill Crane
Latin: Antigone canadensis
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A new model for conservation.
Sandhill Cranes Photo: Choktai Leangsuksun
California’s public lands play a vital role in the success and survival of millions of migratory birds. As birds make their perilous journeys across the Pacific Flyway, they need safe and reliable places to rest and eat. These protected lands provide access to food, water, and nesting habitat needed to sustain them along the way.
There are 34 National Wildlife Refuges in California that play a key role in supporting migratory birds. The Sonny Bono Salton Sea National Wildlife Refuge is one of the most important places for birds in North America, offering a rare spot for shorebirds to stop as they travel over large stretches of dry land.
Mono Lake and its surrounding ecosystem provide a diverse landscape, from marsh and meadow to sagebrush steppe and forest. It is ideal habitat for migrating birds, mule deer, and other big game species. In southern California, the Mojave Trails National Preserve and Joshua Tree National Park provide critical habitat for species such as the Burrowing Owl, Red-tailed Hawk, and Prairie Falcon.
So what do these regions have in common? They are all part of a network of large public lands corridors providing essential habitat along migratory flyways. When public lands are well-managed and kept healthy for migratory birds and other wildlife, they provide many benefits for people, such as clean air and water, economic opportunity, recreation, hunting, mental and physical health benefits. Plus, these intact lands buffer against the effects of climate change.
Right now, California is poised to be a national leader in public lands conservation, working at the intersection of climate change, energy production, land management, and wildlife conservation. Visit the StoryMap to see how.
Black-necked Stilt Photo: Logan Southall
Explore our new StoryMap, which identifies key migratory pathways and highlights the most important public lands in California for birds.
California is first in nation to commit to protecting 30% of our lands and waters by 2030.
By partnering with landowners, we can create lasting protections for birds.
Conservation ranching techniques create habitat and sequester carbon. Under a new bill, the state would pay ranchers to implement them.
Vital protections are needed for wetlands that depend on groundwater under the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act
Coalition of conservation and community groups says groundbreaking is positive step towards ending years of inaction at California’s largest lake.
Audubon science finds that two-thirds of North American birds are at risk of extinction from climate change.
Restoring habitat in a landscape as highly managed as California’s often means working with pieces of land that are marginal – sometimes literally. Continuing a tradition of working with private landowners to restore habitat along farm edges, Audubon is leading a project – together with River Garden Farms, River Partners, the Center for Land Based Learning, Yolo County Resources Conservation District, and US Fish and Wildlife Service -- to install hedgerows along a one and a half mile section of road at River Garden Farms in Yolo County, along a canal near the Sacramento River. This bird-friendly habitat restoration recently installed a carefully designed suite of native plants, such as coyote brush, black willow, and toyon, along two, 1.6-mile-long linear strips along County Road 98A near Knights Landing, California.
While hedgerows provide a number of important benefits to farmers, they can be invaluable to wildlife. They provide cover and food for pollinator insects and birds, riparian habitat when planted alongside streams (or in this case, a canal), and create wildlife corridors between habitat areas. They also prevent the drift of wind-blown pesticides or weed seeds between fields, filter water and reduce erosion. Our hope for this project is to create a habitat connection and wildlife movement corridor between the Sacramento River and the massive area of protected wetlands on Roosevelt Ranch. The overall project intent is to provide enduring wildlife habitat, with a special focus on increasing riparian bird species abundance and diversity while connecting different habitat areas, an important part of making wildlife more resilient in a changing climate.
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California is a global biodiversity hotspots, with one of the greatest concentrations of living species on Earth.
