Guest blog post: Water, Birds and Rice in the Central Valley

By Dawit Zeleke, The Nature Conservancy

It sounds simple: farmers feed the world. However, given the fact that the world population has doubled since 1960 and is projected to reach 9 billion people by 2050 our jobs will become more complex as these people build houses on what is now farmland and consume water for their everyday needs. As I drive through the Central Valley I look at all the rice fields, orchards and the mosaic of wetland refuges, and I worry about what the future holds for rice production and the many bird species that gild the Central Valley as more and more people live on Earth.

I have worked for The Nature Conservancy, in the Central Valley of California, for twenty years, and during that time I have learned years the importance of the marriage between wildlife habitat and agriculture. As our population grows, and demand for food, water and energy increases, that marriage must become even stronger to meet the needs of the people, the rice farmers, and the wildlife that will depend on that land.

Our resources, especially our water, is limited, and some people argue if we just stop farming in the Central Valley we would have plenty of water for our cities. This proposal does not take into account the basic necessities of life that you and I understand. If we limited water to Central Valley farmers in order to adequately supply urban communities, then who would grow our food? And where would migratory shorebirds like ducks, geese and cranes go? Basically, how would our communities as we know them survive? I could not imagine our world without the seasonal changes that come with the first planting of rice into flooded fields, the green waving stocks, the harvest, the rains, and the arrival of thousands of birds that together make the drive so enjoyable and dynamic, and are essential elements in ensuring the Central Valley is a wonderful part of California where we can live, work, farm, raise our families, and simply take a moment to enjoy.

The rice we grow in the Central Valley nourishes countless people around the world and breathes life into farming families and their communities. The great Pacific Flyway bird migration provides magic from children on school trips to adults who have lived in the Central Valley for years. The wonder of these amazing birds completes us as humans. I do not have a simple answer for why we should care about birds or why we should grow rice other than I simply cannot imagine a world where birds and agriculture are not integrated into our way of life.

The Nature Conservancy, Audubon, Point Reyes Bird Authority (PRBO) and Central Valley rice growers are working together, growing food and growing habitat for birds that traverse the Pacific Flyway. In a world where so much is going wrong, this partnership is proving we can work together and maintain what has made this part of the world special and a home to so many people and birds. Each of the three partner groups brings particular strengths that complement the others: PRBO has a deep reservoir of avian science and decades of monitoring research; Audubon brings its army of bird lovers and cooperative land management skills, and The Nature Conservancy provides a proven model of working in the arenas of science, policy, and place to achieve conservation success.

The future of rice farms and migratory birds are bound together. How well we partner with each other will determine our success. The signs are positive, and I am looking forward to another twenty years of working on our partnership, watching the rice continue to grow season after season and birds continue to migrate through our amazing and beautiful region.

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Dawit Zeleke is the Central Valley and Mountains Regional Director for The Nature Conservancy California.