Celebrating the Miracle - Thousands of waterfowl perform for the 10th Annual Snow Goose Festival in Chico, January 22-25, 2008

Just a short drive away in the northern Sacramento Valley, a nature spectacle takes place that rivals any in the United States.  If you have never watched as thousands of geese, ducks and swans fly up in simultaneous lift off with wings of white and voices of honking harmony, now is the time!  The 10th Annual Snow Goose Festival, headquartered in Chico, celebrates this annual winter phenomenon with over 50 field trips and workshops that range out into three counties.  The field trips spread out from the charming college town of Chico into the rice fields, wildlife refuges and river walks where mild winter weather, abundant food and lots of water draw the avian arrivals.

This waterfowl story is an old one.  Geese, swans, ducks and sand hill cranes have been spending their winters in the Sacramento Valley for thousands of years.  They come here by the millions from as far away as the Arctic regions of Alaska, Canada, and Siberia, making this valley the most important wintering area along the great Pacific Flyway.  A variety of waterfowl and shorebirds migrate south on all the U.S. flyways but on other routes, because of weather, they stay on the move.  Here in the Sacramento Valley mild winters allow the birds to stay in one area, creating a viewing opportunity nowhere else available.

Before humans turned this area into one of the richest agricultural regions of our country, the migrating waterfowl spent their winters in the vast wetlands that reached east and west from the bottomlands of the Sacramento River. Now only 4% of those wetlands are left, mostly managed in National and State Wildlife Refuges.  However the abundant seasonal rains that created the wetlands are perfect for rice growing.  The North Sacramento Valley, now a patchwork of rice fields, is the nation’s second-largest rice producing area behind Arkansas.  And many rice farmers invite the returning birds to their flooded fields to help stamp down the remaining rice stubble, a silica-based plant that is difficult and expensive to discard.   The geese and swans eat the rice grains left from harvest and their big webbed feet trample down the stalks – the perfect partnership!

Of course the story is much more complex that this.  And Mother Nature’s remarkable tales are told on the many field trips and workshops of the Snow Goose Festival.  The Festival presents an amazing variety of programs on wildlife and habitats.  In addition to rice fields and refuges, Festival field trips go to vernal pools, the seasonal home of rare plants and animals, a Great Egret Rookery on the Feather River, a nature preserve to band saw-whet owls and even the scenic Sutter Buttes to hike in search of resident wildlife.

Workshops teach nature photography, beginning birding, worm composting and much more.  There are free nature activities for children, and armchair adventures for the less hardy.  Free wildlife art exhibits and many fascinating nature displays offer something for everyone.  The Snow Goose Spectacle may be the Festival drawing card but the depth and breadth of nature experiences provide a rich and diverse program.

    Highlights:

·         Over 40 Fieldtrips 1/22 – 1/25 - All Day - Chico Masonic Family Center (CMFC)

·         Workshops and Exhibits Sat., & Sun., 1/24 and 1/25 – All day - (CMFC)

·         Uptown/Downtown Art Reception:  Fri., 1/23 5:30 – 8:30pm, All Fired Up! & Avenue 9 Gallery

·         “Gathering of Wings” Banquet:  Sat., 1/24 5:30-10:00pm Chico State’s Bell Memorial Union

Make It a Weekend:  The Festival events are affordably priced and Festival hotel rates of $75 per room per night make this a bargain weekend.  Enjoy a Friday night Art Exhibit and Uptown/Downtown Reception or the “Gathering of Wings Banquet” on Saturday night.  The banquet will feature keynote speaker Ed Harper – well-know birder, world traveler and photographer.

For more detailed information: www.snowgoosefestival.org ; info@snowgoosefestival.org or 530.345.1865

Lodging reservations:  Best Western Heritage Inn (530)894-8600 (Mention Snow Goose Festival) Heritage Inn Express (530)3434527 (Mention Snow Goose Festival)