Reclamation, Ducks Unlimited and Biggs-West Gridley Water District Partner to Bring Water to Key Habitat When It’s Needed
By Gary Pitzer, Bureau of Reclamation
California’s many wildlife refuges thrive on an adequate supply of water, including Gray Lodge Wildlife Area in Butte County, which receives part of the water it needs for waterfowl and other species through the Central Valley Project Improvement Act.
Located 55 miles northwest of Sacramento, Gray Lodge is home to more than 1 million waterfowl annually. The 9,100-acre preserve is managed for wildlife and supports more than 300 species of resident and migrant waterfowl, mammals, and wetland-dependent species such as the giant garter snake.
Gray Lodge receives about 35,400 acre-feet of water each year through groundwater, California Department of Fish and Wildlife surface water rights and CVPIA surface water supplies. Through an agreement with Reclamation, the Biggs-West Gridley Water District conveys surface water through a series of water district-maintained canals and ditches to three delivery points at the boundary of Gray Lodge. The water is then distributed through a series of refuge-maintained canals and ditches to the seasonal wetlands and irrigated pasture and crop lands.
Conveyance limitations have long prohibited Gray Lodge from being able to receive full Level 4 water supplies– the amount required by the CVPIA to achieve optimum waterfowl habitat management. In 2020, Reclamation, Ducks Unlimited and the water district completed the second part of a five-phase construction project to improve water conveyance at Gray Lodge, increasing the capacity of two major canals that feed water to Gray Lodge.
“Fifteen of the 19 CVPIA refuges now have sufficient external conveyance capacity to receive full Level 4 water supplies on their scheduled and timing needs,” said Pam Taber, CVPIA program analyst
Reclamation entered into a cooperative agreement with the Biggs-West Gridley Water District, a state water contractor, to convey CVPIA water supplies to Gray Lodge’s boundary, and to construct improvements to the district’s conveyance facilities to provide the capacity needed to deliver full Level 4 supplies.
After a pause, work began again in 2019 and in 2020 two key delivery structures were replaced. A slew of work was completed in 2021 – drain crossings, turnouts, culverts and ditches – all with the purpose of moving Gray Lodge toward receiving full Level 4 water capacity.
“This is a huge project that continues to march along pretty good,” said Spencer Walden, refuge water supply program specialist. “When it’s done in 2023, we will have the ability to deliver full Level 4 water and we will be down to three refuges.”