Colusa National Wildlife Refuge
Map SatelliteLocated in the Colusa Basin, this Refuge is intensively managed as a waterfowl habitat and is an important migratory bird feeding and wintering area. While there are some natural marshes with Typha sp., Scirpus sp., etc., much of the area is ponded or cultivated for waterfowl use.
As at the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge some 40 kilometers (25 miles) to the north, the waterfowl population peaks in December and January when over 500,000 birds may be on the Refuge. The most abundant species are the same as those on the Sacramento Refuge. Approximately 180 species of birds have been sighted on the Refuge.
Several mammals are found here which have not been observed on the main refuge. They include feral pig, Sus scrofa, present since the early 1950's, ringtail cat, Bassariscus astutus, which is relatively abundant here, the gray fox, Urocyon cinereoargenteus, which, though common in the nearby hills, is seldom seen on the valley floor. The red fox, Vulpes fulva, introduced to the valley in the 1880's, is also found here.
Integrity: Managed as a waterfowl refuge, with levees, dikes, roads and sub-administration headquarters. There is a self-guiding vehicle and walking tour.
Use: Research, educational, observational, hunting, fishing. Roads are sometimes impassable in wet weather.
March 1976
Inventory of California Natural Areas
Revision © 2009 Steven Louis Hartman