CONAWAY RANCH WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT PLAN

The Coanway Ranch has become a leader in implementing programs to attract and maintain wildlife resources while continuing an extensive farming operation, including rice, alfalfa, tomatoes, corn, safflower, melons, and other crops. CPG puts a great deal of effort into being good stewards of the land by practicing wildlife-friendly farming and educating our farmers on the importance of wildlife and farming working together. Wildlife-friendly farming practices are a core component of our plan, and without the support and help of our tenant farmers and other organizations, would not exist.

CPG has ongoing symbiotic relationships with various wildlife and farming organizations and through these organizations practices many different voluntary projects and programs. Following is a list of the organizations CPG is involved with: California Waterfowl Association (CWA), California Department of Fish & Game, UC Davis, California Rice Commission, Farm Bureau, Ducks Unlimited (DU), Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), Resource Conservation District (RCD), Wildlife Conservation Board (WCB), Yolo Basin Foundation, Yolo Audubon Society, Sacramento Audubon Society, Woodland School District, Boy Scouts, Brownies, and many more.

The following summary plan is meant to outline and describe the steps we undertake each season to ensure a wildlife-friendly ranch.

Spring/Summer:

• Nesting Habitat
  These consist of mainly set aside fields (fallow) that are used from March to August, with peak nesting season occurring from mid-April to mid-July. The nesting habitat plots are adjacent to brood ponds to maximize the success of the habitat.
• Brood Ponds
  Brood ponds are a very important part of the wildlife plan; they provide habitat, water, and a good food source. Brood ponds are needed from March to August and range in size from 30-70 acres. Brood ponds create habitat and a food source for a vast amount of wildlife such as waterfowl, pheasants, herons, egrets and shorebirds, and brood ponds provide a place for these birds to stay during migration.
• Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP)
  CREP is a program spearheaded by the Farm Services Agency (FSA), with the goal being to provide food and shelter for many types of wildlife by having farms plant cover crops on unfarmed or fallow fields. CPG uses many of these fields in combination with Nesting Habitat and Brood Ponds (explained above).
  Early Migration Water
  In mid-August an early migration of waterfowl fly down from Canada and Alaska into the Sacramento valley. In mid to late August, when the Ranch is starting to drain rice fields, the drain water is used to flood any available fields (fallow or harvested Safflower fields) for early migration.
• Food Crops
  As well as farmed fields, food crops can be planted to provide wildlife with an additional food source. Usually planted are seed crops, such as milo or corn, and moist soil plants, such as water grass, smartweed, or sprangle top.
• Duck Banding
  During the months of July and August, CPG hires a California Waterfowl Association (CWA) biologist intern to assist in our partnership Duck Banding program. The purpose of this program is to track waterfowl species migration patterns, birth/nesting patterns and individual growth.

• Wood Duck Nesting Box Program
  CWA provided CPG with approximately 50 wood duck nesting boxes, which CPG maintains and monitors. Beginning in 2000, CPG partnered with UC Davis to enhance this program by allowing UC Davis students in Masters and Doctorate programs to use this already established program to research wood ducks. Dr. John Eadie, of UC Davis, supervises this part of the program.

Fall/Winter:

• Fall & Winter Upland Habitat
  Fall and winter habitat is similar to nesting habitat but serves a different purpose. During these months wildlife (mainly pheasants) are dependent on cover to escape the large number of predators. Therefore, plots that were fallow or used as nesting habitat are used as upland habitat.
• Winter Water
  Between September and February are critical months to provide flooded habitat for wintering waterfowl and other water birds. Migration begins as early as August, but peaks in mid-November. The Sacramento valley holds the majority of the wintering birds from the Pacific Flyway. The Ranch practices a “rice rolling” program, which means that rice fields are flooded and then rolled to dispose of the rice straw after harvesting is completed. Studies show that flooded fields with a high waterfowl usage result in a greater decomposition of the rice straw.
• Pairing Water
  Typically in January or February, winter-flooded rice fields are drained for the upcoming farm year. However, during the same time period a large number of birds stay to nest on the Ranch. To accommodate our farms and continue our wildlife-friendly farming practices, we only drain slow draining fields at this point. Fast draining fields are kept flooded until March.

Overall Ranch Practices:

• Roads
  Every year roads are sprayed, mowed, disked and/or graded, and edges of roads are left as habitat as they can be great wildlife corridors for both waterfowl and upland young during the nesting season.
• Ditches
  The Ranch consists of miles of ditches for irrigation and as a means for drainage. As we realize ditches need to be cleaned to maintain water flow to or from fields, we also know that ditches can be a great habitat for wildlife. Therefore, we clean only one side of non-major ditches each year, benefiting both the Ranch and wildlife.
• Crops
  The majority of crops on the Ranch are wildlife-friendly: rice, corn, safflower, wheat, and oats. Alfalfa, also a main crop on the Ranch, is not wildlife-friendly, but steps are taken to ensure minimal impact to the wildlife when alfalfa is grown.

View PDF of Conaway Ranch Wildlife Plan.