Ep. 101 Integrated Wetlands at Bird Haven: Mosquito-Smart Water, More Ducks

Carson and Jeff sit down with John Veon (UC Davis PhD candidate, wetlands & waterfowl) and Andy Atkinson (manager, Bird Haven Ranch) to unpack a five-year experiment in integrated wetland management—using swales, shorter irrigations, and year-round connectivity to cut mosquito production while boosting macroinvertebrates and duck use.

What you’ll learn

• Why the Valley needs a reset: California flipped its natural water rhythm and now only ~7–10% of naturally functioning wetlands remain—so managers are rebuilding function, not replicas.
• How the system works: keep wet swales connected through summer and swap 10-day irrigations for ~5-day (or less) pulses to protect annuals (think Timothy), grow food plants, and starve mosquito cycles.
• Predators, not spray: longer access to water (≈140 days vs. ~20) grows dragonfly/other predators that hammer larvae—nature doing the heavy lifting.
• Public health partnership: day-to-day coordination with Butte County Mosquito & Vector Control aligns human health (West Nile) with better wetlands.
• Running cheaper, smarter: timing pumps at night avoids brutal demand charges and still feeds the swales—biology and the power bill pulling the same way.
• Water source matters: colder well water slows bug production; lift-pump or warmer sources can change bird use patterns.
• Measuring results: wood-duck fecal DNA diet work, USGS telemetry, and game-camera grids track how birds and wildlife actually respond.

If you manage a club pond, volunteer on public ground, or just want sharper habitat instincts, this episode lays out a clear, field-tested blueprint you can scale to your place.

🦆 Like the show? Tap follow, leave a quick review, and share this one with your blind crew—your support keeps these conversations rolling and the flyway thriving.