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Butte Sink National Wildlife Refuge is 733 acres of federally protected and publicly owned riparian forest and freshwater marsh, including vernal pools, permanent ponds, and watergrass. It is located inside the 18,000-acre Butte Sink Wildlife Management Area, which includes 10,311 acres of conservation easements on privately owned wetlands extending through Sutter County, Butte County, and Colusa County. The refuge is located two miles west of the Sutter Buttes, but is not open to the public.

The Butte Sink Wildlife Management Area has the highest concentration of waterfowl per acre in the world, with typical wintering populations of more than 300,000 ducks and 100,000 geese.¹ About 60% of the waterfowl population in the Pacific Flyway and 20% of the waterfowl population in North America spend the winter in California's Central Valley.² Because 95% of Central Valley wetlands have been drained or filled in over the past 100 years,³ native waterfowl have become increasingly dependent upon refuges such as this one.

The Butte Sink National Wildlife Refuge is part of the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge Complex, which also includes the Sutter National Wildlife Refuge, Colusa National Wildlife Refuge, Delevan National Wildlife Refuge, Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge, and Sacramento River National Wildlife Refuge.

Wildlife

Rare birds seen at the Butte Sink National Wildlife Refuge include the Aleutian cackling goose and yellow-billed cuckoo. Other rare species such as the giant garter snake, winter-run and spring-run chinook salmon, and Central Valley rainbow trout also live in the refuge.

History

The refuge was authorized in 1976 and established in 1980, in accordance with the Migratory Bird Conservation Act of 1929, to protect winter habitat for waterfowl. Additional land was acquired in 1988 with funds from the Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation Stamp Act of 1934 and the Land and Water Conservation Act of 1965.

Links

Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge Complex Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge Complex: Butte Sink Wildlife Management Area Bird Checklists of the United States: Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge Complex Ducks Unlimited: Butte Basin NAWCA II: Butte Sink NWR Enhancement Butte Sink National Wildlife Refuge—Boundaries

Footnotes

1. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service: Butte Sink Wildlife Management Area
2. Ducks Unlimited: Butte Basin NAWCA II: Butte Sink NWR Enhancement
3. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service: Butte Sink Wildlife Management Area