About the Project

The Pajaro River corridor is home to a wide variety of wildlife. Unfortunately, the prevalence of burrowing rodents here can cause damage to river levees and increase the risk of catastrophic flooding. The Predatory Bird Research Group at UC Santa Cruz and the Zone 7 Flood Control and Water Conservation District are seeking to help solve this problem by implementing a 1-year pilot program to investigate the effectiveness of recruiting native hawks and owls, also known as raptors, to supplement current raptor-friendly pest management activities on the Pajaro River Levees. Hunting perches and owl nest boxes have been placed along a 2.5 mile section of the river. Our team will investigate whether encouraging raptors to hunt on the levee will help our county work towards reducing the use of ecologically harmful anticoagulant and fumigant rodenticides for pest management. You can also help protect local raptors by not using rodent poisons on your property (see raptorsarethesolution.org for non-toxic alternatives).

Biologists, county maintenance crews, community volunteers, and local students will be working together to monitor bird and rodent activity on the levee in 2020. Follow project activities at on this web page where the initial findings of this pilot study will be available at the end of the year.

Project Partners:

UC Santa Cruz Predatory Bird Research Group

Zone 7 Flood Control and Water Conservation District

Native Animal Rescue

Ken Norris Center for Natural History

Watsonville Wetlands Watch

Raptors Are The Solution

This pilot study is made possible by the Santa Cruz County Fish and Wildlife Advisory Commission Grant program.