WEBVTT - How Do Pop-Up Wetlands Work?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of iHeart Radio, Hey

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<v Speaker 1>brain Stuff Lauren Vogelbaum here and the sharing economy has

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<v Speaker 1>changed everything from how people get around a city to

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<v Speaker 1>how they rent rooms while traveling, and now it's even

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<v Speaker 1>seeping into ecology. In California's Sacramento Valley, farmers are temporarily

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<v Speaker 1>leasing flooded rice patties to the Nature Conservancy so the

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<v Speaker 1>migratory shore birds have a place to stop and feed

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<v Speaker 1>while traveling the Pacific Flyway, which is the major north

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<v Speaker 1>south route that extends from Alaska to Patagonia. The program,

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<v Speaker 1>dubbed Bird Returns, has been in development by the Nature

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<v Speaker 1>Conservancy since and is helping conservationists deal with the short

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<v Speaker 1>term needs of migrating birds. Because of urbanization, agriculture, and

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<v Speaker 1>climate change, the migrating birds have less access to wilderness

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<v Speaker 1>to mate, feed, nest, and rear their young. At the

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<v Speaker 1>same time, project gives farmers the opportunity to support conservation

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<v Speaker 1>efforts and maybe earn a little extra money without negatively

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<v Speaker 1>impacting crop production. During February and March of the pilot

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<v Speaker 1>season for the program, just two percent of Sacramento Valleys,

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<v Speaker 1>some five hundred thousand acres of rice fields, and that's

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<v Speaker 1>around two hundred thousand hectares were turned into shallow water

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<v Speaker 1>for shorebird habitat. That season, the pop up wetlands supported

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<v Speaker 1>more than a hundred and eighty thousand birds, representing fifty

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<v Speaker 1>seven different species. On average. The researchers found three times

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<v Speaker 1>more bird diversity and five times greater density on rice

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<v Speaker 1>patties that participated in the program compared to unenrolled fields.

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<v Speaker 1>Migrating animals, like shorebirds are in jeopardy as their ranges

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<v Speaker 1>cover vast swaths of land. A study published in the

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<v Speaker 1>journal Science in reported that just nine percent of over

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<v Speaker 1>one thousand, four hundred migratory bird species had access to

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<v Speaker 1>protected areas for all the stage of their annual cycle.

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<v Speaker 1>In California, in particular, of original wetland habitat has been

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<v Speaker 1>lost to agriculture and urban development. Since the Nature Conservancy

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<v Speaker 1>was founded in ninety one, it's worked to conserve habitat

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<v Speaker 1>by working with landowners to purchase land or permanently limit

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<v Speaker 1>the use of their land in order to maintain its wildness.

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<v Speaker 1>Each agreement is worked out individually, a process that's expensive

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<v Speaker 1>and can take months or years to develop. For the

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<v Speaker 1>article of this episode, is based on how stuff works.

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<v Speaker 1>Spoke with Mark Reynolds, PhD, the lead scientist for the

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<v Speaker 1>Nature Conservancy's California Migratory Bird program. He explained that he

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<v Speaker 1>and his colleagues, including Sandy Matsmoto, the team's project manager,

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<v Speaker 1>and Eric Halstein, the team's economist, thought that the demand

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<v Speaker 1>for purchasing migrating bird habitat could far exceed their resources. Quote.

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<v Speaker 1>We were looking at our habitat needs and thinking how

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<v Speaker 1>do we buy our way to success us? Sandy said,

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<v Speaker 1>do we need to buy land for the whole year?

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<v Speaker 1>It looks like the animals needed part of the time. Eric,

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<v Speaker 1>with his background and economics, said we could do a

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<v Speaker 1>reverse auction. I said, a reverse What? A reverse auction

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<v Speaker 1>overturned the conventional role of buyer and seller. Instead of

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<v Speaker 1>buyers competing to outbid each other to obtain a good

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<v Speaker 1>or service, as sellers compete to offer their goods or

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<v Speaker 1>services to one buyer at a competitive price. And the

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<v Speaker 1>sellers in this case are the owners of rice fields,

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<v Speaker 1>which are typically farmed in California from April through August

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<v Speaker 1>or May through October. During the growing seasons. The fields

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<v Speaker 1>are normally flooded, but they're also flooded during the off

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<v Speaker 1>seasons to decompose the rice double after harvest, Reynolds and

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<v Speaker 1>his colleagues saw an opportunity to work with the farmers

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<v Speaker 1>to provide temporary wetland habitat for shorebirds passing through. So

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<v Speaker 1>in early the Nature Conservancy issued an invitation to rice

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<v Speaker 1>farmers to submit bids that itemized their costs to flood

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<v Speaker 1>fields for four, six or eight weeks at a time

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<v Speaker 1>beginning in February of that same year. The farmers set

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<v Speaker 1>their own prices and the Nature Conservancy was able to

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<v Speaker 1>select the highest quality habitat for the lowest total cost.

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<v Speaker 1>They repeated the process in the fall often then every

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<v Speaker 1>year since then. Housta Works also spoke with John Brennan,

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<v Speaker 1>a partner at Brennan Jewitt and Associates, a firm that

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<v Speaker 1>manages rice sales for the Robbins Rice Company. He explained

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<v Speaker 1>that the farmers are very receptive to this concept quote

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<v Speaker 1>and to the extent that they can get their costs

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<v Speaker 1>covered to do it. They're even more receptive because they

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<v Speaker 1>see it as a something that they're excited about and

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<v Speaker 1>a way to make an environmental difference and be something

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<v Speaker 1>that really helps secure the longevity of the rice industry

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<v Speaker 1>in California. To figure out where and when shore birds

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<v Speaker 1>most needed wetland habitat for their migrations, Reynolds and his

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<v Speaker 1>colleagues worked with experts at Cornell University's Lab of Ornithology,

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<v Speaker 1>which collects information about birds through its citizen science project

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<v Speaker 1>The Bird. This online checklist allows bird enthusiasts across the

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<v Speaker 1>country to tabulate the kinds of birds they see, when

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<v Speaker 1>they see them, how many, and where. Using data from

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<v Speaker 1>eBird and grant money from NASA, the Cornell team built

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<v Speaker 1>high powered computer models that predicted, at weekly intervals, the

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<v Speaker 1>presence and abundance of birds at different locations. From these models,

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<v Speaker 1>Reynolds and his colleagues created maps to visualize and prioritize

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<v Speaker 1>where and when habitat was needed most. But once they

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<v Speaker 1>knew the locations, they requested bids from the local rice farmers,

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<v Speaker 1>and they adjust the program based on weather conditions. During

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<v Speaker 1>times of drought, the Nature Conservancy would pay more, and

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<v Speaker 1>during times of excessive rain, it would pay less. When

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<v Speaker 1>they extrapolated the potential costs for the project out and

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<v Speaker 1>they found the highest possible cost per year based on

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<v Speaker 1>the average bid, was one point are million dollars, but

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<v Speaker 1>that's significantly higher than what the Nature Conservancy actually paid. Meanwhile,

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<v Speaker 1>the estimated cost to restore rice fields to wetland habitats

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<v Speaker 1>equal to that land area would cost around twenty five

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<v Speaker 1>million dollars, and maintenance fees would come in and about

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<v Speaker 1>a hundred thousand dollars a year. So this seems like

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<v Speaker 1>a win win, But the researchers stress that these pop

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<v Speaker 1>up wetlands are tools and not meant to replace permanent protection.

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<v Speaker 1>If the land switched from rice farming to some other

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<v Speaker 1>use that wasn't compatible with seasonal flooding, another protection strategy

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<v Speaker 1>would need to be considered. For now, though rice farming

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<v Speaker 1>and bird conservation are working hand in hand, Reynolds said,

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<v Speaker 1>we're engaged with this community of farmers and thinking about

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<v Speaker 1>a lot of other ways to conjoin farming and environmental benefits.

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<v Speaker 1>Today's episode is based on the article pop up Wetlands

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<v Speaker 1>Helping migrating shorebirds on house toff works dot com, written

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<v Speaker 1>by Tracy Steeter. Brain Stuff is production by Heart Radio

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<v Speaker 1>in partnership with how stuffworks dot com, and it is

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<v Speaker 1>produced by Tyler Klang. For more podcasts from my heart

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<v Speaker 1>Radio visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever

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<v Speaker 1>you listen to your favorite shows.