Flooded rice field is tested as salmon nursery in Yolo Bypass

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Decades of experience have proved that Sacramento Valley rice farmers can use their fields to grow healthy ducks. Now, research under way in the Yolo Bypass aims to find out if they can grow salmon, too.

Biologists scoop small salmon from a transport tank into a flooded field in the Yolo Bypass. The experiment launched Tuesday will try to determine the best duration of flooding to benefit salmon while avoiding conflict with rice planting, as well as an ideal flooding depth, and whether rice stubble, weedy ground or bare ground is best.​

UC Davis wildlife biologists Miranda Tilcock and Nick Corline lug a cooler full of tiny salmon into the Yolo Bypass near Woodland.​

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