Pacific Flyway Integrated Landscape Conservation: Meeting the Needs of Waterfowl and Shorebirds in a New Era of Water Scarcity

The Klamath Basin, Central Valley, and Southern Oregon and Northeastern California (SONEC) collectively support over 60% of all dabbling duck use in the Pacific Flyway between September and May and are critical landscapes for migratory shorebirds. During fall, these birds move through the Klamath Basin on their way to wintering grounds in the Central Valley. By March and April, most birds have departed the Central Valley and are found on spring staging habitats throughout SONEC and the Klamath Basin. In addition, these areas provide regionally important breeding and molting habitats for waterfowl, migration, molting and wintering habitat for shorebirds, and breeding habitat for waterbirds, further connecting cross-seasonal habitat reliance among landscapes.

The contiguous nature of these landscapes (see Figure 1), combined with the ability of birds to move quickly between them, requires an integrated conservation approach across their boundaries. To date, conservation planning for waterfowl and other wetland dependent birds has been conducted by the Central Valley Joint Venture (CVJV) in the Central Valley, the Intermountain West Joint Venture (IWJV) in SONEC, and the Klamath Basin National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) Complex for refuge lands in the Klamath Basin (which was later adopted by the IWJV). As is the norm for JVs across North America, the CVJV and IWJV have developed their conservation plans independent of one another.

These landscapes share three important characteristics: (1) threats to water supplies that have traditionally provided key habitat (vulnerability), (2) an overwhelming reliance on managed water delivery systems (vulnerability), and (3) an essential partnership between managed wetlands and irrigated agriculture (part of any solution).