Resource Management

Create it and Wildlife Will Come!
Wetlands on the Complex's five refuges are almost entirely manmade. In 1937 with the establishment of Sacramento NWR, managers and biologists worked totransform the Refuge's dry, alkaline lands into productive marshes. The Civilian Conservation Corps, using bulldozers and tractors, began creating marshes and ponds.

CCC working on the Sacramento NWR, photo: USFWS

Additional refuges were created in the 1950s through the 1980s, forming the Sacramento NWR Complex. Four Refuges - Sacramento, Delevan, Colusa, and Sutter - and one Wildlife Management Area - Butte Sink - were created to provide wintering habitat for waterfowl and reduce crop damage. These lands consist of wetlands, grasslands, and riparian habitat. The fifth refuge, Sacramento River NWR, was established in 1989 to protect and restore the River's riparian habitat along portions of the Sacramento River from Red Bluff to Princeton.