Audubon California Executive Director Brigid McCormack argues in the Modesto Bee today that any water bond, and any drought legislation, should take into account the needs of the millions upon millions of migratory birds that rely on Central Valley habitat to survive:

Millions upon millions of migratory birds rely on the Central Valley as a vital point on the Pacific Flyway. Acknowledging the massive impacts to wildlife from federal and state irrigation projects, Congress in 1992 passed the Central Valley Project Improvement Act to support habitat for birds, fish and other wildlife. This legislation mandated minimum water allocations to the network of federal wildlife refuges, state wildlife areas and private wetlands in the Central Valley. This is a promise we need to keep.

(photo of Snow Geese in the Central Valley by Lisa Ouelette)