Delta trust helps farmers, snow geese co-exist

[depakid]

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A small, non-profit group that has operated in Delta for 17 years is slowly eliminating the misconception that farms are good only for growing food.

In fact, branding farmland as "unsuitable" for food growth is a common gambit developers use in attempting to have it removed from the Agricultural Land Reserve and converted into high-return real estate development.

The Delta Farmland & Wildlife Trust is an offset to that gambit.

Since 1993, it's been bringing farmers and conservationists together so that the once-warring factions now work co-operatively for mutual benefit. This is accomplished through the Trust's innovative stewardship programs where it shares costs of specific farm management practices that benefit both soil and wildlife habitat conservation.

These programs are vital, especially when you consider that during the past 140 years, 87 per cent of the Fraser delta's original wetland habitat has been lost to development.

Regardless, the Fraser estuary remains a key stop on the Pacific Flyway and this fall we'll see another huge influx of migratory waterfowl -- including those ubiquitous snow geese -- descend on any open grass-covered spaces available, including parks and playgrounds.

In fact, it's now estimated that approximately five million birds from 20 countries migrate annually through our local delta. And, as we all know, any wild goose or duck is highly active in both the input and output departments. A flock can graze on a field until only mud remains and as for output, that can range from being a nuisance to developing into a public-health hazard. This is where one of the DF&WT's primary undertakings, the Winter Cover Crop Program, comes to the fore.

In early fall, thousands of hectares of Delta farmland are planted with winter grain crops which protect the soil from heavy winter rains but also provide migrating and local birds with abundant winter forage. DF&WT shares these costs with farmers.

"The cover crops provide an alternative feed source that helps keep the birds from other areas," says DF&WT program coordinator David Bradbeer, the group's resident biologist. "Otherwise these birds love to feed on the high-protein grasses in school yards and parks -- it's like setting out candy for them," he adds.

More: http://www.theprovince.com/life/Delta+trust+helps+farmers+snow+geese+exist/3498668/story.html#ixzz0z2b27xwY

[petronius]

1. That's a good idea. A related practice in the California Central Valley is

to flood the rice fields after harvest, which provides winter waterfowl habitat and helps clean up the runoff. Those geese on the Fraser are on the way here, and it's pretty important to have strong conservation efforts all the way down the flyway...