EPOW - Ecology Picture of the Week

Sutter Bypass Wildlife Area

Sutter Bypass Wildlife Area, California Department of Fish and Wildlife
Sutter County, California USA

Explanation:  This is a most unusual and official Wildlife Area, designated by the California Fish and Game Commission in 1968, smack in the agricultural lands of the Central Valley of California.  

This is the Sutter Bypass Wildlife Area, located in the North Central Region of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW), in Sutter County.  The Area is bounded by two levees - East Levee and West Levee - bounding the East Canal and the Sutter By Pass, respectively, as part of the Central Valley's river system.  The levees, as shown in the above photo, are densely covered by a diverse riparian tree vegetation including black willow, Fremont cottonwood, button willow, blue elderberry, white alder, and other species, as noted in this CDFW description.  

These images -- above, and below -- are oriented looking southeast, from the west side of the Area, showing the levees and the internal and external agricultural fields.  The refuge provides habitat for a variety of wildlife including fox, beaver, deer, and others.  And the bypass channels hold a diversity of fish including chinook salmon, bluegill, catfish, and others.  

In the refuge proper, hunting (shotgun only) is allowed, but only for pheasant and waterfowl, under permit of course.  But no hunting is allowed in the riparian forested areas along the levees except in designated areas.  

Elsewhere, nearby, are dense croplands and major highways intersecting the levees.  

This is a most unusual and possibly unique configuration for a wildlife refuge and hunting area!