Butte Sink Wildlife Management Area is located in Colusa,

Butte __NOTOC__ In geomorphology, a butte () is an isolated hill with steep, often vertical sides and a small, relatively flat top; buttes are smaller landforms than mesas, plateaus, and tablelands. The word ''butte'' comes from a French word me ...

, and Sutter Counties. It is

wetland A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The p ...

s managed as part of the

Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge Complex The Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge Complex is part of the United States system of National Wildlife Refuges (NWR). It is located in northern California, in the valley of the Sacramento River. The Sacramento NWR Complex was created in an att ...

and is not open to the public. Within the

Wildlife Management Area A Wildlife Management Area (WMA) is a protected area set aside for the conservation of wildlife and for recreational activities involving wildlife. New Zealand There are 11 Wildlife Management Areas in New Zealand: * Horsham Downs Wildlife Man ...

(WMA), conservation

easement An easement is a nonpossessory right to use and/or enter onto the real property of another without possessing it. It is "best typified in the right of way which one landowner, A, may enjoy over the land of another, B". An easement is a propert ...

s have been purchased on , requiring landowners to maintain

s on their property in perpetuity. These lands are privately owned and closed to public access. In addition, a area (owned in fee title) was established in 1980 to protect wetlands for wintering waterfowl. This area is known as the "Butte Sink Unit" (formerly known as the Butte Sink National Wildlife Refuge), and is also closed to public access. Major refuge objectives are to provide feeding and resting habitat for wintering waterfowl; provide habitat and management for endangered, threatened, or sensitive species of concern; protect and provide habitat for neotropical migratory land birds; preserve a natural diversity and abundance of flora and fauna; and alleviate crop depredation. The Butte Sink typically supports wintering populations of over 300,000

duck Duck is the common name for numerous species of waterfowl in the family Anatidae. Ducks are generally smaller and shorter-necked than swans and geese, which are members of the same family. Divided among several subfamilies, they are a form ...

s and 100,000

geese A goose ( : geese) is a bird of any of several waterfowl species in the family Anatidae. This group comprises the genera '' Anser'' (the grey geese and white geese) and ''Branta'' (the black geese). Some other birds, mostly related to the she ...

. As 95 percent of wetlands of the Central Valley have been lost over the last 100 years, waterfowl have become increasingly dependent on the remaining wetlands within the Sacramento Valley.

References

Butte Sink Wildlife Area website
{{authority control National Wildlife Refuges in California Protected areas of Butte County, California Protected areas of Colusa County, California Protected areas of Sutter County, California Wetlands of California Landforms of Butte County, California Landforms of Colusa County, California Landforms of Sutter County, California