Staten Island

Like many other areas in the Delta, Staten Island farmers have a long tradition of flooding their already harvested fields in order to attract birds migrating along the Pacific Flyway to feed on the stubble left behind after the harvest.

Both bird hunters and bird watchers benefit from seasonal flooding. The farmers also benefit of course. Their fields must rest between plantings, which typically run in two-year cycles. Flooding them during their fallow period thwarts processes of subsidence that would otherwise occur.

The Nature Conservancy, a prominent non-profit entity dedicated to preserving sensitive ecosystems, owns Staten Island. Its location, at the northern end of the Large Owner Axis, just downstream from the Delta Cross Channel, has made Staten Island the site of a CALFED proposal for extensive construction of setback levees as part of its “through-Delta” alternative.