The California rice industry is getting a chance to showcase its wildlife conservation successes. 

Senate Bill 765 would name the California-native giant garter snake as the official state snake. Author Senator Roger Niello, R-Fair Oaks, called the snake “an essential part of our natural heritage.”  

RogerNiello.jpegSen. Roger Niello (Niello office photo)

“Why not use this snake as a fun, scaly tool to educate Californians about wildlife and the importance of environmental stewardship?” Niello said during a Senate Governmental Organization Committee hearing.

The giant garter snake would follow three other animals designated state symbols in the last year: the Dungeness crab, banana slug and black abalone. Though other iconic snakes like the northern Pacific rattlesnake were considered for the special title, Niello said the giant garter snake should be given priority since it is endemic to California and is almost entirely supported by the Sacramento Valley rice industry.

California Rice Commission released its Conservation Footprint for California Rice in February, an interdisciplinary report reviewing the conservation strategies California can use to support the nearly 230 species — of which 27 are endangered — reliant on Central Valley rice fields.

In partnership with University of California, Davis, the report recommends the maintenance of 500,000 rice-field acres for species conservation. Under that umbrella, the giant garter snake requires roughly 80,000 acres of habitat in the form of rice fields and irrigation ditches.

The giant garter snake’s population declined nearly 90% over the last century. It first made the California Endangered Species list in 1971 and the federal endangered list in 1993 — and is still considered a threatened species. At the same time, California lost 95% of its natural wetlands due to factors like agricultural drainage and urban development.

Save The Snakes founder Michael Starkey said the giant garter snake serves a dual purpose as both prey and predator, making it a critical part of a wetland ecosystem. Testifying on behalf of SB 765, Starkey said the bill would make a “powerful statement to [California’s] commitment to conservation.” 

“It's a way to raise awareness about the importance of wetlands, rice fields and the unique creatures that inhabit them,” said Starkey.

CalRice International Promotion Manager Paul Buttner also expressed support for the bill, reiterating the rice industry’s overall commitment to maintaining the giant garter snakes’ existence.

“Many would say that quite possibly giant garter snakes would not be in the Sacramento Valley without this 500,000 acres of ricelands,” said Buttner.

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Tim Johnson, CalRice president and CEO, told Agri-Pulse one of his earliest conservation memories with the commission was an outreach campaign to rice farmers, attempting to draw their attention to the existence of the giant garter snake. Their goal then was to ensure the animal was not harmed through farm operations. 

“Fast forward 30 years … we realized it's not just an issue of not harming the snake, it's really a question of what can we do on our fields to make the snake thrive,” said Johnson.

Johnson said methods like bringing water into canals and ditches earlier and strategically flooding fields adjacent to public and privately managed wetlands can help optimize habitat conditions. 

He praised California rice growers for widely adopting the conservation ethos, helping turn a leaf many years ago after earning a reputation for mass burnings of agricultural waste. He said in recent times growers have worked synergistically with research partners to smoothly embed conservation practices into their harvest schedule.

“In the early days of our efforts, we got growers coming to us, telling us about all the great species they were seeing and all the great types of waterfowl that they were seeing on their fields,” he said, adding that state agencies and nongovernmental organizations made the important move to engage the industry to ensure conservation cost burdens were not entirely falling on the grower.

CalRice is now working on an initiative with UC Davis and the U.S. Geological Survey to refine a set of practices that may help rice growers conduct flooding earlier in the season. Johnson said the recommendations would expand giant garter snake habitat in the spring and build the species’ drought resilience through more targeted rice planting.

“It's really, I think, a classic example of a win, win, win for the environment and our communities [that] rely on rice.”

SB 765 is now headed to the Senate floor.

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