Sacramento, CA – October 5, 2012 – Water is the lifeblood of wetland and waterfowl conservation in California, including our public waterfowl hunting areas.
Wetlands, however, are dynamic and water supplies cyclical. This was most apparent this past spring in the Klamath Basin, where an avian cholera outbreak at Tule Lake and Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuges (NWRs) was exacerbated by reduced flooded habitat that resulted in the loss of an estimated 15,000 snow geese, pintail, wigeon and other waterfowl. Similar conditions may have contributed to a botulism outbreak this past August, where anadditional 3,000 waterfowl mortalities, mostly pintail and green-winged teal, have been collected since August.