Through the Willow Slough Watershed Stewardship Program (WSWSP), Audubon California works with farmers and ranchers in the watershed to design and implement conservation projects on their property. Audubon California provides direct technical and financial assistance to individual landowners in the watershed who wish to implement one or more conservation activities. Participation by watershed landowners is voluntary.

Conservation projects are designed to maintain and enhance the physical and economic conditions for agriculture, while improving habitat for wildlife. Each project is tailored to meet the needs of the participating landowner to help him/her meeting their objectives for their operation and the property. Project sites are used to demonstrate to other producers the benefits of the conservation practices.

The WSWSP grew from the vision of local public agencies, local producers and conservation organizations*, who, in 1996, collaborated to develop the Willow Slough Watershed Integrated Resources Management Plan (Willow Slough Plan). This document identified conservation and restoration measures needed on local farms and ranches to address watershed problems including loss in biodiversity, degradation of water quality and land-use sustainability.

In 1998, through funding from CALFED Ecosystem Restoration Program, Audubon California teamed-up with Yolo County Resource Conservation District (Yolo RCD) {link to www.yolorcd.ca.gov} to implement recommendations of the Willow Slough Plan. A second CALFED grant provides funding for the program to focus in the upper watershed rangeland area through August of 2004.

Audubon California's program is now tightly integrated with the environmental education program Student and Landowner Education and Watershed Stewardship Program (SLEWS) of FARMS Leadership, Inc (link to www.farmsleaders.org). Today, much of the conservation work on farms and ranches is done with the help of students from local schools. Indeed, each year, we host approximately 50 student field days with FARMS Leadership, Inc..

To read more about the program, see "Sowing New Wildlife Habitat, Seed by Seed" in the January-February 2001 issue of Audubon (link to magazine.audubon.org/auduboninaction/action0101b.html).

*Yolo County Resource Conservation District, Yolo County Flood Control and Water Conservation District, Yolo County Community Development Agency and the California Wildlife Conservation Board.