Late rice planting will delay the opening of waterfowl season by one week on type "A" wildlife areas in the Northern Sacramento Valley. According the Department to Fish and Game, the delay, which was made in consultation with the Sacramento Valley Rice Advisory Committee, doesn't affect other areas of the state, or private waterfowl hunting clubs. They will open on the normal scheduled date. For current waterfowl hunting regulations, go to DFG's website: http://www.dfg.ca.gov/

The Sacramento Valley Rice Advisory Committee is comprised of staff from DFG, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Rice Commission, California Waterfowl Association and local farmers. The Committee evaluates the probability of a majority of the rice in the Northern Sacramento Valley being harvested by the opening of waterfowl season. As a result of the late spring rains, rice was planted later than desired. The late planting will result in a late harvest, which has the potential for depredation of rice crops by migratory waterfowl. Birds can be driven off of public hunting areas into agricultural areas, where they can consume a tremendous amount of rice. The delay will be the first in three years and only the third since the 1983-84 waterfowl season. Since 1953, the season was delayed 33 times over depredation concerns.

In the 1940's, the Lea act was passed to fund the purchase and management of public lands to decrease crop depredation in the surrounding landscape. While many other acts have been passed to expand, fund and operate these wildlife areas over the years, decreasing depredation of crops is still one of the benefits of these areas and on some, one of the primary goals.

The following areas will open for waterfowl hunting on Oct. 28, 2006 (a delay of one week):

Yolo Bypass Wildlife Area, Yolo County ?ĮGray Lodge Wildlife Area, Butte County?ĮUpper Butte Basin Wildlife Area (Llano Seco, Howard Slough, and Little Dry Creek), Butte County?ĮSutter National Wildlife Refuge, Sutter County?ĮColusa National Wildlife Refuge, Colusa County?ĮDelevan National Wildlife Refuge, Colusa County?ĮSacramento National Wildlife Refuge, Glenn/Colusa Counties