The first warning came from one of the best wildlife biologists I have ever met, Kelly Hornaday. About 11 years ago. She was then with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service office in Sacramento, but is now on the East Coast. I had made a (I thought) funny comment about beavers and the need to keep a close watch on them; I just didn't think at the time that they could be as destructive as the NBHCP suggested. Kelly spun around and admonished me to not take this lightly. That beavers can do enormous damage to a managed marsh complex. I later learned she was more right than I could ever know. The Conservancy has spent thousands of dollars replacing native trees that have been planted over the past decade. These are planted to serve as future nesting trees for Swainson's hawk, and we are directed to plant them in the NBHCP. But the rate at which they have been felled by beavers is awe inspiring. So we replant. Note in the accompanying photo the security with which we have planted this replacement seedling. DOUBLE fencing, double staking. The stakes are necessary so the beavers don't tear up the fencing or push it over. The Conservancy hired Sopwith Farms to do this replanting, and its crews have done an excellent job. Let's see if we can be as persistent in preserving the trees for later Swainson's hawk nesting as the beavers have been for cutting (gnawing?) them down for purposes of congesting the flow of water in the marsh complexes.

(B.O. for burrowing owls; one of the NBHCP "Covered" species)

Conservancy Board member Tom Urquhart recently returned from military duty in the Mideast. For the six months he was away, the Conservancy's Board of Directors agreed it was appropriate to hold Tom's seat open for him. Small organizations like the Conservancy have greater difficulty holding vacant positions open, even though this was for a Board seat and not a staff position. For this, the Conservancy was nominated for the 2010 Secretary of Defense Employer Support Freedom Award (see image adjacent). The award acknowledges employers for the considerations they make for National Guard and Army Reserve personnel when they are called to active duty. From the Conservancy's standpoint, it was good to support this cause. But it is also good to support Tom's work in this regard, as he has generously given of his time and effort to support the Conservancy's efforts to implement the NBHCP. It's been a great partnership.

It's green!

Click here to view.

Alfalfa is regarded as one of the best crops in the Natomas Basin for benefitting Swainson's hawks, one of the "major" "Covered Species" under the NBHCP. On the Conservancy's Souza tract, we improved land on which to grow alfalfa, one of the very few--if not the only--recent examples of this happening in the Natomas Basin. The Conservancy did this to expand and enhance foraging opportunities for Swainson's hawks.

The Conservancy initiated a managed marsh project on the site several years ago. With earth-moving equipment adjacent, we "borrowed" soil from peaks and hauled that soil to an area well-suited to alfalfa growing (well served with irrigation water, easily drained, a "landing" pad nearby for the harvesting vehicles to use and store alfalfa hay bales, etc.). It is also near Swainson's hawk nesting trees along the Sacramento River. The soil was then mounded up so that alfalfa would not experience the destructive "wet feet" scenario where shallow water tables drown the plant's roots. The raised bed was then leveled for ideal irrigation and drainage. Now, we can say that the field has nearly completed an entire life cycle of alfalfa (in this case, getting five years out of a crop is about standard). The aerial photo adjacent shows a green, roughly rectangle tract that is this alfalfa patch. We are very pleased this has worked out. Other experiments have not. We've learned from this, and will use it elsewhere as opportunities arise.

Conservancy friend Paul Strickland saw this large western yellow-bellied racer snake (Coluber constrictor mormon) on the Conservancy's Betts tract recently. What's interesting is that the snake is a terrestrial snake, not an aquatic snake like the NBHCP's giant garter snake. Yet it was found in a marsh complex built for giant garter snakes. It joins a number of other snakes found on the property, including gopher snakes, California king snakes and others, which we delight in at the Conservancy. It shows that there is increasing diversity in this still-young preserve. It also suggests that we are getting mice on the preserve, since that is a key prey species for the snake. But mice are also a key prey species for the Swainson's hawk. The racer is not a species covered under the NBHCP, but the giant garter snake and Swainson's hawk are. It is fun to see the sheer number and diversity of species increasing on these created preserves!

In a recent issue of "Ecesis," the quarterly newsletter of the California Society for Ecological Restoration, there is an article titled, "Rifles and Rubber Ducks: Managing an "Urban" Nature Preserve" by Andrew Fulks at the Putah Creek Riparian Reserve. For those of us who are reserve managers, it is difficult to share with the public the less-than-pleasant aspects of managing preserves, but Andrew nails it. The public wants to hear of the benefits of the preserves, and believe me, I wouldn't be doing this job if I did not truly believe that what we are doing at the Conservancy was exceedingly beneficial. But there are some not-so-beneficial aspects of the job that at times drives us batty. Andrew lays it out in the article intended to be shared with "insiders," (that is, professional reserve managers) and does it in a manner that is, on the whole, lighthearted. Good for him. If you'd like a peak at the story, we've made it available by clicking on the link below, thanks to the California Society for Ecological Restoration. It's fun reading.

Click here to view newsletter. 2.18 Mb