Every morning is an early morning for scientists working the flood plains of the Sacramento Valley. Thousands of small bugs ...

A record-setting amount of food for endangered fish was produced this winter on California rice fields, scientists say. The nutrient-rich water, laden with bugs, is being funneled into the ...

So these fish got cut off from a really important food source and rest stop in their journey. Now you’re looking at the parts of the year when rice fields are flooded as one answer to this dilemma.

The authors reviewed the core needs of key species living among the region’s rice fields. These include giant garter snakes, wintering ducks, wintering and breeding shorebirds, black terns, sandhill ...

Black-necked stilts in a flooded rice field. (Photo: California Rice Commission ... will not be able to bear the many species of fish, birds and snakes reliant on farms without adequate water ...