My job provides plenty of visits to rice farms and one of the things I enjoy most is observing the diversity of wildlife. Whether it’s a flock of Snow Geese, a romp of River Otters or a Giant Garter Snake slithering by, the variety of critters that rely on rice continually amazes me.
I was reminded of this while in a field at Keith Davis’ farm in Yuba County. This particular field had grown many rice crops and is now part of the Waterbird Habitat Enhancement Program, where it will be used as a cold water check with shorebird nesting islands.
Walking around I began to notice that this ground was a regular wildlife highway. The first tracks I spotted were from a deer.
I also spotted plenty of these raccoon tracks, which are fascinating to look at and to me seemed to convey some of their mischievous nature.
There were even cow tracks, likely from a curious bovine that trotted over from its nearby grazing area.
There were tracks heading all over the place. There were probably many more there that someone well versed on the outdoors could probably have identified. Nevertheless this was another reminder of how rice farms not only provide food for our dinner tables but invaluable habitat for hundreds of wildlife species.
Jim Morris is Communications Manager for the California Rice Commission. Jim has worked in communications for more than 20 years. When he’s not on the job, he enjoys his family, faith, football, outrageous monster stories and running marathon
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