Across the Americas, rice and crawfish farmers are helping keep migrating birds alive by transforming their land into makeshift wetlands.
Lela Nargi reports for Knowable Magazine.
In short:
- Bird populations like ducks, cranes, and sandpipers are plummeting as wetlands vanish due to climate change and development, prompting farmers and conservationists to team up.
- Traditional rice-and-crawfish farms in Texas and Louisiana offer critical wetland-like habitat during key migration seasons, drawing dozens of bird species.
- Programs like Ducks Unlimited and Manomet support farmers financially to maintain bird-friendly practices and restore critical migratory routes across the Americas.
Key quote:
“You can see 30, 40, 50 species of birds, amphibians, reptiles, everything.”
— Elijah Wojohn, shorebird conservation biologist, Manomet Conservation Sciences
Why this matters:
For decades, cranes, sandpipers, and ducks have flown ancient highways across the skies of the Americas — paths etched into their biology by millennia of migrations. As climate chaos scrambles both agriculture and biodiversity, farmer-conservationist alliances could be a blueprint for survival on a hotter, drier planet. With support from groups like Ducks Unlimited and Manomet, farmers are getting paid to do right by birds — proving to be both good conservation and good business.
Read more: Wetland protections remain bogged down in mystery
