An abandoned railroad trestle in the southern part of the Yolo Bypass Wildlife Area is getting a new look as part of a habitat restoration project led by the Yolo County Resource Conservation District. The earthen mounds originally designed to elevate a train track will now provide refuge from rising floodwaters for animals that otherwise […]
Conservation Issues
Conservation news and issues happening in Yolo County.
Public Access to Public Lands: Fremont Weir Wildlife Area
As noted here before, the conservation goals of Yolo Audubon are to protect and expand local bird habitat and ensure public access to that habitat, wherever possible. The situation at Fremont Weir Wildlife Area is unusual in that a formerly accessible public recreation area is now much harder to get to. Fremont Weir Wildlife Area […]
The Lower Elkhorn Basin Levee Setback Project
Projects that involve water or flood management are typically contentious almost anywhere in California. Nevertheless, a plan to widen the Yolo Bypass on its east side, in the lower Elkhorn Basin, is heading smoothly toward construction. It has support from the Yolo County Board of Supervisors and the affected landowners. The project was conceived about […]
Capay Open Space Park
Last winter I discussed the Cache Creek Parkway Plan and the Cache Creek Conservancy and Nature Preserve as parts of an effort to improve and expand habitat and public access along the reach of the creek between Roads 85 and 96B. I can now report on a second on-the-ground element of the nascent Parkway corridor, […]
Bird Habitat and the Southport Levee Improvement Project
The City of West Sacramento is in the middle of a major upgrade to flood protection along the Sacramento River. Rather than relying on the riverside levee that South River Road sits atop, it is building a much wider levee, and setting it back a hundred yards or so from the river. The intent is […]
Birding In Your Own (Urban) Backyard
Although backyard birding in the city is not as thrilling as in more natural landscapes, it can offer conservation lessons. I began to bird in Slide Hill Park in Davis in 1986, when the park was fairly new and the vegetation was still young. I have watched the various groves and lines of trees grow […]
Wind Turbine Development at Bogle Vineyards
On 25 April 2014 Yolo Audubon Society filed a lawsuit together with Tuleyome and a group of local landowners against Yolo County and the Board of Supervisors challenging the county’s approval of a wind turbine development on Bogle Vineyards, the county stating that no environmental impact report was needed via using the mechanism of a Mitigated Negative Declaration under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).
View the Petition for a Writ of Mandate.
Putah Creek Nest-Box Highway
This month I want to report on a bird conservation success story that is as close to home as Putah Creek. Yolo Audubon’s own Melanie Truan came up with the idea and made it happen, and has ensured its continuation ever since. Working at the UC Davis Museum of Wildlife and Fish Biology, and aiming […]