page_title: Refuge Water Supply Program
section_title: Migratory Waterfowl
hierarchical_section_title: Refuge Water Supply Program / Accomplishments and Benefits to Nature / Migratory Waterfowl
caption_attribution_description: English: Tule Elk bull.
context_page_description: The Refuge Water Supply Program is administered by the United States Department of the Interior jointly by the Bureau of Reclamation and Fish and Wildlife Service and tasked with acquiring a portion and delivering a total of 555,515 acre feet of water annually to 19 specific protected wetland areas in the Central Valley of California as mandated with the passing of the Central Valley Project Improvement Act signed on October 30, 1992 by President George H. W. Bush.
context_section_description: Since the passage of the CVPIA, Sacramento Valley areas receiving CVP water have seen a 20% increase in waterfowl use and a significant decline in water-borne wildlife diseases. Waterfowl use in the early fall have recorded increases of 800 percent, from 2 million to over 18 million waterfowl use days per year.
  White-faced ibis and sandhill cranes are excellent examples of how the availability of adequate water supplies enabled refuge managers to provide habitat for endemic species that had been in severe decline for decades. Improved water supplies first led to an increase in the numbers of frogs, snails, aquatic insects, and small fish. This, in turn, provided the ibis and cranes with habitat for late-spring and summer nesting, essential components for these species. The increased and improved breeding habitat resulted in a steady upswing in bird numbers.
  This, in turn, provided the ibis and cranes with habitat for late-spring and summer nesting, essential components for these species. The increased and improved breeding habitat resulted in a steady upswing in bird numbers.
caption: Tule Elk at the Merced National Wildlife Refuge
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