Spring rains in March and April were at or slightly below normal, but the snowpack was above the long-term average across all representative survey areas. Combined with full reservoirs, habitat conditions have continued to improve since the end of the last drought (2020-2023).
Tule Lake (TLNWR) and Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuges (LKNWR) received enough water to fill both Sumps (1a and 1b) on TLNWR, and multiple wetlands on LKNWR that have been dry since 2019, creating “ideal conditions” for production. However, above average summer temperatures and limited water deliveries present threats to habitat conditions.
In March, over 20,000 acre-feet of much-needed water was delivered to Lower Klamath and Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuges (NWR) with the help of Ducks Unlimited (DU) and its partners at the Tulelake Irrigation District (TID) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service who activated Pumping Plant D for the first time in four years.
Ouch. We dont get a lot of reverse migration from down south, but this still hurts numbers overall.
What is crazy is that they received normal rainfall, and above normal snowpack. It seems California is largely reliant on artificial transportation of water to keep their habitat productive, and even that isnt enough to keep breeding numbers in the green.
