The Challenge
The Central Valley is the heart of California through which two-thirds of the state’s water flows, where the vast majority of food for the United States is grown, and the location of the state’s fastest growing communities. At the same time this Valley is a critical linkage at the center of a migratory pathway for millions of birds – the Pacific Flyway. All of California and many Pacific Flyway bird populations rely on wise decisions regarding water and land use for people and natural areas in California’s Central Valley. With so many interests, conflict over resources is inevitable and the resulting land conversion and competition for California’s limited water supplies has vastly changed the Central Valley landscape and continues to do so.
Birds have lost more than 90% of their historic Central Valley habitats
In the midst of this changing landscape, birds have lost more than 90 percent of their historic Central Valley habitats over the past 200 years, leading to population declines across many species and the complete eradication of others. Meanwhile, climate change is posing additional challenges by increasing pressures on an already stressed environment. Providing habitat to sustain the Pacific Flyway requires solutions that work in the context of the altered Valley landscape, that consider and integrate the growing needs of local communities, and that are resilient to increasingly extreme weather events.
Our solutions to these challenges fall into three main areas: