Caroline Brady, California Waterfowl Association Supervisory Biol-ogist, with duck carcasses collected at Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuge, August 1, 2020. credit- California Waterfowl Association
“The amount needed to make an impact in the wetlands would lower the overall lake level by about an inch.” KWUA.ORG
In mid-August 2024, a severe botulism outbreak struck the Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuge, part of the Klamath Basin National Wildlife Refuge Complex straddling the…
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This entire catastrophe was an amazing dereliction of duty on numerous fronts. When water was dumped into the marsh without guaranteed follow up water, every agency and partner who signed off on this debacle should be held accountable. I notice in the airboat picture that the predominant species are mounting Mallards! The BLM, The USFWS, DU, Cal Waterfowl, CADFG, NAWCC, The Auduban Society, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, Pacific Flyway Council, The Conservation Fund, and the Ultimate Responsible Party, The Department of the Interior. Waterfowl Biologists and common sense could anticipate this outcome and all involved in the decision should be ashamed and severely reprimanded. It is one thing to experience large losses from Natural occurrences like we have had in California for years down at the Tulare Basin and and numerous Canadian prairie locations; quite another to remove dams and there migration holding surface water to then pack all the moulting mallards, gadwalls and early migrating pintails, shovelers and teal into stagnant water!!!!! Unfortunately the rice harvest is just beginning and there is no place for the migration to go. Quite a few in Fall River Valley but nowhere near the water needed at this point. This could be the final nail in the coffin for California Mallards and most probably the elimination of the greatly diminished early Pintail migration. I have to say I predicted this outcome when I heard The BLM and USFWS were diverting the water heading into the heat of summer after the massive die off There in 2020, and they announced at the time they could not guarantee future deliveries when it was most needed to prevent stagnation. Blaming this on Global Warming or an avian flu die off is inexcusable. Was there not one organization or waterfowl Biologist that said this was a disaster in the making! The BLM alternating 2 year delivery plan to the refuge was the first nail. Fortunately then many migrating birds were able to shift east or use the surface acres behind the dams on the Klamath. and Tule Lake; mallard production in California disappeared for those two years. This second nail may well be the death knoll for the Pacific Flyway. If one can’t get enough water to insure proper flow then, Thanks for the water, but no thank you!
2 Comments
This entire catastrophe was an amazing dereliction of duty on numerous fronts. When water was dumped into the marsh without guaranteed follow up water, every agency and partner who signed off on this debacle should be held accountable. I notice in the airboat picture that the predominant species are mounting Mallards! The BLM, The USFWS, DU, Cal Waterfowl, CADFG, NAWCC, The Auduban Society, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, Pacific Flyway Council, The Conservation Fund, and the Ultimate Responsible Party, The Department of the Interior. Waterfowl Biologists and common sense could anticipate this outcome and all involved in the decision should be ashamed and severely reprimanded. It is one thing to experience large losses from Natural occurrences like we have had in California for years down at the Tulare Basin and and numerous Canadian prairie locations; quite another to remove dams and there migration holding surface water to then pack all the moulting mallards, gadwalls and early migrating pintails, shovelers and teal into stagnant water!!!!! Unfortunately the rice harvest is just beginning and there is no place for the migration to go. Quite a few in Fall River Valley but nowhere near the water needed at this point. This could be the final nail in the coffin for California Mallards and most probably the elimination of the greatly diminished early Pintail migration. I have to say I predicted this outcome when I heard The BLM and USFWS were diverting the water heading into the heat of summer after the massive die off There in 2020, and they announced at the time they could not guarantee future deliveries when it was most needed to prevent stagnation. Blaming this on Global Warming or an avian flu die off is inexcusable. Was there not one organization or waterfowl Biologist that said this was a disaster in the making! The BLM alternating 2 year delivery plan to the refuge was the first nail. Fortunately then many migrating birds were able to shift east or use the surface acres behind the dams on the Klamath. and Tule Lake; mallard production in California disappeared for those two years. This second nail may well be the death knoll for the Pacific Flyway. If one can’t get enough water to insure proper flow then, Thanks for the water, but no thank you!
USBR not BLM
Moulting Mallards
Thank you for your good reporting work!