APPLICATIONS ARE NOW CLOSED!

BirdReturns has been working with farmers and landowners for 10 years to provide habitat for migratory shorebirds, cranes, waterfowl, and other waterbirds. This year, The Migratory Bird Conservation Partnership (MBCP), with funding and support from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, will be using the BirdReturns Program to provide needed wintering habitat in the Sacramento Valley and Delta for the Greater Sandhill Crane, a California threatened subspecies. . Habitat provided through this program will also benefit a wide diversity of other waterbird species including waterfowl, shorebirds, and other wading birds.

BirdReturns-Sandhill Crane Program 2024-2025

The objective of the Sandhill Crane Program is to incentivize farmers to create new crane habitat to increase the resilience of the Central Valley’s population. Our goal is to complement existing habitat by providing additional foraging and roosting habitat. Individual growers may provide either foraging sites or roosting sites, or both in combination. (further details below) 

Roosting sites provide sanctuary habitat  for cranes and other waterbirds to congregate and spend the night safe from predators. Fields must be unhunted and flooded from 3-9 inches in depth for at least 8 weeks between October 1, 2024 and March 15, 2025.

Foraging sites provide locations for cranes to feed near their night roosts. These sites must be harvested grain fields that are left untilled and initially unflooded to maximize the amount of food for the birds.   

On some fields, social attraction techniques that involve the use of decoys and broadcasting of crane vocalizations will be used to attract cranes. At these sites, access for setup and monitoring will be necessary.  Participation in the social attraction aspect of the study is optional. 

To apply for the Sandhill Crane Winter Program, farmers must submit an application consisting of the acreage of foraging and/or roosting habitat they wish to provide. Farmers accepted in the program will all be paid the same fixed rates per acre for these different habitat types.  

Further program details are provided below. 

Program Details

Geography

• Sacramento Valley and Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta—the primary wintering area of the Greater Sandhill Crane subspecies.   

Timing

• Appropriate roosting and foraging habitats must be maintained for a period of at least 8 weeks between October 1, 2024 and March 15, 2025.  
• Grower to select enrollment window that works best for them. 

Appropriate field types and sizes

Participants may provide roost habitat (30 acre minimum), forage habitat (50 acre minimum) or a combination of both. Habitat minimums may be met by combining multiple fields as long as they are contiguous. Required conditions for each of the habitat types are detailed below. 

Roosting habitat

• Post-harvest or fallow agricultural fields that are at least 30 acres. Fields must have reliable access to water for flooding maintenance.  
• Fields must have a minimum width of 100 m without continuous bands of large trees along the edge.  

Foraging Habitat

• Harvested rice, corn, or other grain fields (e.g., barley, wheat, oats, etc.) fields totaling at least 50 acres.

Field Management

Roosting Habitat

• Fields must be open (no trees or vines) with minimal standing stubble or other vegetation. Incorporation of crop residue or weeds may be needed.  
• Fields must be fully flooded by the program start date and maintained to shallow depths (3-9”) for at least 8 weeks between October 1, 2024 and March 15, 2025, followed by a two-week gradual drawdown period.   
• In sloping fields, the shallow end may be less than 3”, and the deeper end greater than 9”, with flood management done to maximize the desired depth range (3-9”) across the field.

Foraging Habitat

• Corn: Harvested and chopped (or mulched) with no tillage (disking) before the enrollment end date. Use of a roller to put crop residue in contact with the soil to facilitate decomposition is permitted.  
• Rice: Conventional harvest (no stripper header), with no tillage (disking) before the enrollment end date. Stubble may be left standing or chopped. Use of a roller to put crop residue in contact with the soil is permitted.  
• Other cover types should be managed similarly. 
• Beginning during the sixth (6^th) week of enrollment, fields may begin a slow flood up, but must remain at a depth of two (2) inches or less through the remaining two weeks of the enrollment period. 

Ineligible Fields

• Fields enrolled in any annual incentive program (i.e., NRCS EQIP) that provides payment to conduct flooding during the exact same time window. Enrollments may be staggered back-to-back in time. 
• Fields located within five miles of major airports, including Travis AFB, Beale AFB, and Sacramento International. 
• Fields where hunting occurs. No hunting on enrolled roost fields or fields directly adjoining. Hunting in the area surrounding is permissible (including on foraging fields), but should be low intensity (e.g., Wednesdays and Saturdays dawn until noon). When applying for the program growers must provide the planned hunting schedule on proposed foraging fields and all fields that directly adjoin them. 
• Roost fields with trees along their borders are excluded. Foraging fields may have some  trees on their edges, but fewer trees are preferable. 

Additional Planning Considerations

• Sites with larger roosts and/or larger foraging areas are preferred. 
• Site with less hunting pressure are preferred. 
• Sites that cranes used to utilize but no longer do are preferred. 

Payment Rates

PROGRAM BUDGET: $760,000

SANDHILL CRANE HABITAT PROGRAM ACREAGE GOAL: 8,000 acres

PAYMENT RATE: $95 per acre

Application Ranking and Scoring Processes

All applications will be ranked and scored by representatives from the Migratory Bird Conservation Partnership and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. The selection committee will assess applications according to standardized methods, using the best available science and tools to predict the habitat value of each application. Sites will be given a score based on position in the landscape relative to historical roost sites, land cover, surface water availability, and timing. Applicants that have larger acreages will rank higher. The highest-scoring applications will be selected until the acreage goal is met and/or the budget is spent.  We reserve the right to reject any applications that are outside of the program requirements, intent, or team capacity. Feel free to contact us if you would like to discuss what type of habitat (roosting and/or foraging) is most desirable for your specific location, or if you would like additional explanation about the scoring criteria.

Why A Special Focus On Sandhill Cranes?

Worldwide, cranes are one of the most imperiled groups of birds. In recent years, wintering Sandhill Cranes populations in California appear to have declined due to the loss of flooded habitats which they depend upon for roosting, and reductions in small grain agriculture which provides their main food source. The conversion of wildlife-friendly seasonal field crops like corn, and rice, to more permanent crops such as orchards and vines has directly eliminated large areas of habitat for this iconic Central Valley species. Compounding this problem is the fact that many sandhill cranes return to the same sites year after year.  If historic habitats are lost, they may struggle to find a new, suitable sites.

Fortunately, however, Sandhill Cranes respond well to the implementation of simple management actions that are easy to implement for many farmers. All that is needed is to create flooded areas for roosting flocks, and nearby foraging habitats in suitable harvested agricultural fields. Our program is designed to achieve this by providing compensation to farmers that are interested and willing to manage their fields in this way.

By increasing the number of potential roost sites and using social attraction techniques to entice cranes to use them, we can offset the losses of suitable wintering habitat that is currently occurring in this region, and ensure that these iconic birds have the resources they need to thrive.

Maintaining a mosaic of wetlands and well-managed wildlife-friendly croplands will allow this region to continue to support these birds while simultaneously benefiting other wildlife and the regional economy.

The BirdReturns-Late Summer Farmlands Habitat Program is managed by the Migratory Bird Conservation Partnership (The Nature Conservancy, Audubon California, and Point Blue Conservation Science), in partnership with the Delta Conservancy, and the program funder, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Questions? Contact Us!