Overcast waterlogged fields

Center's Yolo Bypass Project Lauded

Two top California water managers have singled out the Center's Yolo Bypass project as "one of the nation's best examples" of multi-benefit flood management. In a commentary published Oct. 27 in The Sacramento Bee, Bill Edgar, president of the state's Central Valley Flood Protection Board, and Mark Cowin, director of the state Department of Water Resources, said:

"The Yolo Bypass is one of the nation's best examples of integrated flood management. For nearly a century, this swath of floodplain has effectively protected Sacramento from flooding while supporting important agricultural, fisheries, waterfowl, recreational and educational opportunities. On the Knaggs Ranch in the upper Yolo Bypass, a team of scientists from the University of California, Davis, and several agencies are partnering with a rice farmer to learn more about the habitat flooded rice fields provide for juvenile salmon. The first year of the study produced some of the largest juvenile salmon ever measured in the Valley, bolstering the hypothesis that access to a floodplain is important to sustaining salmon populations. The effort will eventually connect flooded rice fields to the Sacramento River."

Read more here: http://sacb.ee/SsgEEZ. Photo by Carson Jeffres

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