UPDATED April 25, 2024:
ALERTS:
- PHONES: our phone system is still down as we work through some software security updates. Please contact us by email at sacramentovalleyrefuges@fws.gov
Request for Scoping Comments for the Draft Environmental Assessment for the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge Complex, San Luis National Wildlife Refuge Complex, and Stone Lakes National Wildlife Refuge for Management of Aquatic Invasive Plants
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) is preparing a Draft Environmental Assessment (EA) to evaluate the potential physical, environmental, cultural, and socioeconomic effects associated with the management of aquatic invasive plants within and surrounding the Butte Sink Wildlife Management Area (WMA), Colusa National Wildlife Refuge (NWR), Delevan NWR, Sacramento NWR, Sacramento River NWR, Steve Thompson North Central Valley WMA, Sutter NWR, San Joaquin River NWR, San Luis NWR, Merced NWR, Grasslands WMA, and Stone Lakes NWR (hereto referred to as the “Covered Refuges”).
View or download the full scoping letter here.
The Service respectfully requests that you consider the proposed action and provide any comments and/or available information that you may have regarding resources within and adjacent to the Covered Refuges. At this time, we are seeking input to help identify the scope of issues and potential alternatives to be analyzed in the Draft EA, as well as regulatory concerns and any other relevant information. Please provide any comments in writing via email by 5:00 P.M. on May 25, 2024 to fw8plancomments@fws.gov. Before including your address, phone number, email address, or other personal identifying information in your comment, please be aware that your entire comment, including your personal identifying information, may be made publicly available at any time. While you can ask us in your comment to withhold your personal identifying information from public review, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to do so.
Visit Us
Butte Sink Wildlife Management Area is just one of the 5 National Wildlife Refuges and 3 Wildlife Management Areas that make up the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge Complex. Butte Sink WMA primarily consists of properties that are privately-owned and under conservation easement conservation easement
A conservation easement is a voluntary legal agreement between a landowner and a government agency or qualified conservation organization that restricts the type and amount of development that may take place on a property in the future. Conservation easements aim to protect habitat for birds, fish and other wildlife by limiting residential, industrial or commercial development. Contracts may prohibit alteration of the natural topography, conversion of native grassland to cropland, drainage of wetland and establishment of game farms. Easement land remains in private ownership.
Learn more about conservation easement , and therefore DOES NOT HAVE ANY LANDS OPEN TO THE PUBLIC.
Find out more about Butte Sink WMA by exploring the menu to the left.
PLAN YOUR VISIT <-- Click here to find out what other Refuges on the Complex have to offer, like.....
• ACTIVITIES
• visitor center
• auto tours
• trails
• photography
• bicycling
• hunting
• environmental education
• HOURS
• FEES AND PERMITS
• RULES AND POLICIES
• ACCESSIBILITY
• DIRECTIONS
• OTHER LOCAL INFORMATION
Location and Contact Information
About Us
The Butte Sink Wildlife Management Area is part of the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge Complex. It is located west of the Sutter Buttes and east of the Sacramento River in Butte, Colusa, and Sutter counties. It consists primarily of conservation easements on privately-owned wetlands, but also includes on 733 acre fee-title property known as the Butte Sink Unit.
Click on the link below to learn more about us!
What We Do
- Resource Management
To help plants and wildlife, Refuge staff uses a variety of habitat management techniques to maintain, recover or enhance plant and wildlife values. Refuge staff carefully consider any management techniques and employ them in varying degrees according to the situation.
- Conservation and Partnerships
The Complex is involved in many conservation endeavors, including Comprehensive Conservation Plans, Private Landowner Programs, and the National Wildlife Refuge System Improvement Act.
Click on the link below to learn more about what we do!
Our Species
The Butte Sink WMA represents the largest contiguous block of wetlands in the Sacramento Valley and typically supports up to 2 million wintering waterfowl and large numbers of the State-listed as threatened greater sandhill crane. These wetlands also support significant populations of breeding herons, egrets, and other waterbirds.
Species and Habitats <-- Click here to learn more about our species and habitats!
Wildlife Checklist <-- Click here to view our Wildlife Checklist