Protection, Restoration and Enhancement of Tri-Colored Blackbird Habitat on Agricultural Lands
Year Awarded: Fiscal Year 2019
USDA Funding: $1,099,997.00
Partner-Contributed Funding: $824,999.00
Project Timeline: 2019-2024
Conservation Program Funded: Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP): Land Management
California Counties: Fresno, Kern, Madera, Merced, and Tulare Counties
Lead Partner: Audubon California
Collaborating Partners:
- US Fish and Wildlife Service
- Western United Dairies
- California Farm Bureau Federation
- Dairy Cares
- California Fish and Wildlife
- California Dairy Research Foundation
Project Summary
The Protection, Restoration and Enhancement of Tri-Colored Blackbird Habitat on Agricultural Lands RCPP project is a conservation partnership that can provide financial and technical assistance to eligible agricultural producers and landowners in Fresno, Kern, Kings, Madera, Mariposa, Merced, San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Riverside and Tulare Counties to implement land management practices that will protect silage colonies, develop long term solutions to silage colonies, and restore and enhance habitat.
Project Goals
- Provide financial assistance for the management of harvesting operations on dairy farms or forage operations hosting at-risk Tricolored Blackbird colonies.
- Restore and enhance habitat where Tricolored Blackbirds have a history of nesting and where new natural habitat has the highest likelihood of reducing nesting on dairy farms or forage operations.
Conservation Practices/Activities
- 327 – Conservation Cover
- 328 – Conservation Crop Rotation
- 340 – Cover Crop
- 342 – Critical Area Planting
- 390 – Riparian Herbaceous Cover
- 587 – Structure for Water Control
- 643 – Restoration of Rare and Declining Natural Communities
- 644 – Wetland Wildlife Habitat Mgmt.
- 645 – Upland Wildlife Habitat Mgmt.
- 647 – Early Successional Habitat Development and Mgmt.
- 657 – Wetland Restoration
- 659 – Wetland Enhancement
NRCS Contact
Andrea Casey, RCPP Coordinator
Natural Resources Conservation Service
Davis State Office, California
Phone: (530) 304-2124
Email: andrea.casey@usda.gov