Grizzly Island Wildlife Area
Map SatelliteLying entirely within the Suisun Marsh, Grizzly Island is one of the two publicly managed units for waterfowl in this marsh at the present. (See also Joice Island.)
Levees surround all but a small portion of the area, and over a quarter of it is cultivated, primarily with barley, for use by waterfowl. The remainder is managed marshlands. There is some salt marsh, primarily along the Grizzly Bay frontage, but most of the area is in freshwater or brackish marsh.
The island is an important early wintering ground for migratory wildfowl. A total of 168 bird species have been observed in the area, including 22 species of waterfowl. Well over 20 species of mammals are found here, including river otter, Lutra canadensis, mink, Mustela vison, beaver, Castor canadensis, and the Suisun shrew, Sorex sinuosus, which is known only from Grizzly Island. The endangered salt-marsh harvest mouse, Reithrodontomys raviventris, occurs here also, as may the endangered California clapper rail, Rallus longirostris obsoletus.
Integrity: Managed as a wildlife preserve, with levees, buildings, etc.
Use: Research, educational, observational, hunting, fishing.
October 1976
Inventory of California Natural Areas
Revision © 2009 Steven Louis Hartman