Wildlife experts say this year’s severe drought has uncoupled that connectivity. It’s an arduous journey, hopscotching from wetlands and waterways, allowing birds to rest and refuel, shoring up strength for their trip. Migratory birds - protected by state and national laws and an international treaty - are suffering mightily during this drought, even more quickly than they did during the last major dry spell, which lasted five years and ended in early 2017.Ĭalifornia is the most critical link in the 4,000-mile-long Pacific Flyway, a route along the West Coast where millions of birds shuttle between their summer and winter homes. It’s sometimes an extreme intervention: trucking young salmon when drought shrinks rivers.īut this year these lifelines aren’t enough. Nature, alone, is silent in this fight, relying on others to speak on behalf of the welfare of wildlife and waterways.Īcross the state, biologists, farmers and hunters are lending nature a helping hand. It says something about the complexity of California’s water crisis that there are so many actors in the state’s water wars, all clamoring for more.

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