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.
Fascinating piece today in the Los Angeles Times about the growing concern over declining water levels in Lake Mead that, if they continue to fall, could trigger substantial water cuts in Arizona and New Mexico. Because of this pressure is growing on California users to reduce its use of Colorado River Water. You might recall recently that the Imperial Irrigation District, one of the primary users of water from the Colorado River, has said that will be uncomfortable with any agreement regarding Colorado River water unless the major issues of habitat conservation and dust mitigation at the Salton Sea are resolved.
"All the parties are under pressure to reach an agreement by the end of this year, before the current administration leaves office and the process has to start anew with new federal overseers. But the interstate complexities may pale in comparison with the difficulty of working out agreements among water users within each state. California's Imperial Irrigation District, which has the largest entitlement of Colorado River water, has balked at any agreement to preserve water levels in Lake Mead without a parallel agreement to preserve the Salton Sea. That huge inland pond has suffered as a result of earlier multi-billion-dollar deals by which the Imperial Irrigation District transferred water to San Diego, the MWD and other users.
The shrinkage of the sea already is an environmental and public health disaster. Withholding more water in Lake Mead without a rescue plan would be unacceptable, Imperial Irrigation District General Manager Kevin Kelley said recently. "The Salton Sea has always been the elephant in the room in these talks," he told the Desert Sun newspaper."
When Audubon California talks about the Salton Sea, we often highlight that about 400 species of birds make regular use of this habitat -- massive numbers of sandpipers migrating between Alaska and South America, as much as 90 percent of the world’s Eared Grebes, and large numbers of American White Pelicans, Double-crested Cormorants, the threatened Snowy Plover. Without the Salton Sea, these species and many others would struggle for survival.
The two maps below offer another view of how birds from all over the Western Hemisphere use the Salton Sea. Since 1908, volunteers and researchers have been banding birds for the U.S. Geological Survey's North American Bird Banding Program, and so we have data on where we found birds that were banded at the Salton Sea, as well as where birds were banded that ultimately turned up at the Salton Sea.
Birds banded at the Salton Sea and found elsewhere
Birds banded throughout the Western Hemisphere and found at the Salton Sea
With news that representatives of California, Arizona, and Nevada are negotiating potential cutbacks to relieve water usage from the overtaxed Colorado River, the water district holding the largest rights to Colorado River water said that issues at the Salton Sea need to be resolved before any settlement regarding the Colorado River.
News emerged in late April of ongoing negotiations among representatives of California, Nevada, and Arizona about the use of water from the Colorado River, which is on the verge of a major shortage. While details of the negotiations aren't clear, the goal has been to keep more water in Lake Mead to stave off a declaration of a shortage.
Our colleague Dash Weidhofer, who manages the Audubon Bobcat Ranch outside Winters, recently found this Burrowing Owl on the property. It may be the first recorded sighting of that species on the property. He also captured some cool images of the wildflowers blooming.
California is a global biodiversity hotspots, with one of the greatest concentrations of living species on Earth.
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Join the thousands of Californians that support the proposed Chuckwalla National Monument.
