This is a picture we took last week of a rice field in the Sacramento Valley. The story behind this is that one of the rice farmers we're working withthis year modified the small levees on 890 acres to increase the amount of area available for breeding shorebirds. We're hoping this benefits American Avocets and Black-necked Stilts, among other wetland birds. We'll be monitoring the use of these modified fields to see how it works.