The Stone Lakes National Wildlife Refuge, located south of Sacramento, California

Sacramento, California

Sacramento is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat of Sacramento County. It is located at the confluence of the Sacramento River and the American River in the northern portion of California's expansive Central Valley. With a population of 466,488 at the 2010 census,...

, lies within the Sacramento-San Joaquin delta, the destination of thousands of migrating waterfowl

Waterfowl

Waterfowl are certain wildfowl of the order Anseriformes, especially members of the family Anatidae, which includes ducks, geese, and swans....

, shorebirds, and other water birds. The refuge was established in 1994 and is one of the few urban refuges that have the potential to attract and educate thousands of visitors in a region that is becoming the "New Silicon Valley

Silicon Valley

Silicon Valley is a term which refers to the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California in the United States. The region is home to many of the world's largest technology corporations...

" of California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

.

Habitats

Through a number of innovative partnerships, the refuge is protecting scarce natural habitats and agricultural resources in an area threatened by urban sprawl and agricultural changes. Stone Lakes National Wildlife Refuge contains both seasonal and permanent wetland

Wetland

A wetland is an area of land whose soil is saturated with water either permanently or seasonally. Wetlands are categorised by their characteristic vegetation, which is adapted to these unique soil conditions....

s, riparian forest, and grassland

Grassland

Grasslands are areas where the vegetation is dominated by grasses and other herbaceous plants . However, sedge and rush families can also be found. Grasslands occur naturally on all continents except Antarctica...

s, as well as some of the last remaining freshwater lakes in the central valley.

These habitats support large populations of migratory water birds, a major rookery for several colonial nesting species such as great blue heron

Great Blue Heron

The Great Blue Heron is a large wading bird in the heron family Ardeidae, common near the shores of open water and in wetlands over most of North and Central America as well as the West Indies and the Galápagos Islands. It is a rare vagrant to Europe, with records from Spain, the Azores and England...

s, and a warm water fishery

Fishery

Generally, a fishery is an entity engaged in raising or harvesting fish which is determined by some authority to be a fishery. According to the FAO, a fishery is typically defined in terms of the "people involved, species or type of fish, area of water or seabed, method of fishing, class of boats,...

. Several endangered

Endangered species

An endangered species is a population of organisms which is at risk of becoming extinct because it is either few in numbers, or threatened by changing environmental or predation parameters...

, threatened

Threatened species

Threatened species are any speciesg animals, plants, fungi, etc.) which are vulnerable to endangerment in the near future.The World Conservation Union is the foremost authority on threatened species, and treats threatened species not as a single category, but as a group of three categories,...

, and special-status species benefit from these habitats: the valley elderberry longhorn beetle

Valley elderberry longhorn beetle

The valley elderberry longhorn beetle, Desmocerus californicus dimorphus, is a subspecies of longhorn beetle native to the riparian forests of the Central Valley of California from Redding to Bakersfield...

, Swainson's hawk

Swainson's Hawk

The Swainson's Hawk , is a large buteo hawk of the Falconiformes, sometimes separated in the Accipitriformes like its relatives. This species was named after William Swainson, a British naturalist...

, and greater sandhill crane.

Visitors

Visitor numbers increase every year; they topped 8,500 in 2001, despite a lack of developed facilities such as a visitor education center and restrooms. Volunteers from the local area dedicate their time on weekends guiding visitors through grasslands and tree-lined waterways to educate the public about the refuge in their backyard.