Sunday, Jan. 13, 2008

Wetlands No. 2 on list of most endangered

Birds, hunters flock to area, giving towns an economic boost

LOS BANOS -- When high snows melted in the Sierra or heavy rains pounded the Central Valley, long before the days of dams and canals, the mighty San Joaquin River overflowed and the Grassland was born.

The meandering marshland from Stevinson to Dos Palos, the Grassland Ecological Area creeps as far east as the Merced National Wildlife Refuge and westward to the San Luis Reservoir on Interstate 5. The elevation on this western edge of Merced County is low. Just under the surface is clay and just under clay is a very high water table, said Candace Sigmond, education coordinator for Grassland Environment Education Center.

The Grassland, at nearly 180,000 acres, is the largest contiguous freshwater wetland in California and the largest freshwater wetland in the western United States.

Wetlands are defined as an area that holds shallow, standing water long enough for specific wetland vegetation to grow, such as swamp timothy and smart weed. With water and food at a middle-to-end point on the Pacific Flyway, the area always has been a favorite of passing waterfowl. Some birds start as far north as the Arctic Circle. Others end their trip in western Mexico. Many winter in California between the Sacramento Valley and the Salton Sea, south of Palm Springs.

"We tell the kids it's sort of like McDonald's," Sigmond said. "You're moving a long ways and have to stop and eat somewhere."

Agriculture changed landscape

The land changed in the 1850s when irrigation canals turned much of the wetlands to agriculture. The first state refuge, Los Banos Wildlife Refuge, was dedicated in 1929, because even without wetlands, the birds still showed up. They decimated crops, especially rice, a favorite duck food. With so many dams and canals on the rivers now, the area doesn't flood naturally. The natural cycle is dependent on a public utility, the Grassland Water District.

"It's an interesting fact that a lot of people, even in the Los Banos area, if they don't hunt, they drive (Highway) 165 and think what can we use those (wetlands) for? It's in our minds, as humans, what can we build?" Sigmond said. "We have to fight against that."

Ducks Unlimited and California Waterfowl, among other groups, fight that fight. Millions of dollars are raised annually to buy spoiled wetland areas and return them to their natural state, which usually involves printing a basin back into land leveled for agriculture. Ducks Unlimited alone put $136 million toward conservation in the 2005-06 fiscal year and put the Central Valley No. 2 on the list of the most important and threatened waterfowl habitats on the continent. (The Great Plains and Prairie Pothole Region, which stretches from Nebraska and Iowa north into Canada, is No. 1; the place most North American ducks hatch.)

Housing and development pose the biggest threat. Many who work and play in the Grassland are concerned about plans for the high speed commuter rail through Pacheco Pass and the proposed Highway 165 bypass.

"The Grassland around Los Banos is the last frontier in the valley, and to introduce major infrastructure without real long-term planning is simply dangerous," said Dave Widell, general manager of Grassland Water District and former policy director for Ducks Unlimited.

Unless the rail line environmental impact report takes a hard look at growth inducement, he said, a lawsuit is imminent.

"Ninety-five percent of our fresh-water wetlands in California have been lost, "drained for development, housing, agriculture," said Robert Parris, deputy refuge manager of the San Luis National Wildlife Refuge Complex. "It's staggering to even think about it."