Where’d the birds go? Federal staffing cuts hit CA refuge

Seven months ago I visited the San Joaquin River National Wildlife Refuge in Stanislaus County, as part of a birding trip to see wintering migratory birds. Even on chilly January days in years past, it was possible to see and hear more than 100 kinds of birds at the Vierra Wetlands nestled inside the 7,500-acre refuge. 

But during my visit the seasonal wetlands were dry, and dozens of species like the snowy egret, northern shoveler and the strikingly colorful wood duck did not appear. Instead, I saw an empty basin rimmed with dried up cattails and bulrushes.

The wetlands, which are part of a larger pit stop for birds along the Pacific Flyway, was empty not because of drought but because the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service didn’t have an on-site refuge manager dedicated to opening the levees that flood the wetlands. The last person who oversaw that task retired in 2024 and the wildlife service hasn’t filled that position.

It’s a reality playing across many of the national wildlife refuges in the country, including the 35 in California. Labor shortages at the federal government’s various land management agencies — which preceded President Donald Trump but intensified during his second term — have left departments with less capacity to manage the refuges. 

• Desirée Sorenson-Groves, president of the National Wildlife Refuge Association, an advocacy organization: “For an agency that already cut the fat … it’s not even at the bone now. It’s just lopping off limbs.”

Unlike coastal counties where state and regional parks are abundant, the refuge serves as a rare open space in the Northern San Joaquin Valley. It also functions as part of California’s vast network of public lands, which overall provide food and sanctuary for countless animals and plants, and protect sensitive habitats and clean drinking water from urban development.

• Eric Hopson, retired wildlife manager of the San Joaquin River refuge: “Our rivers and wetlands are very altered. For that reason, they don’t take care of themselves anymore. So for better or worse, we humans have to take care of the wetlands.” 

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A delay in federal financial aid information sowed confusion among some California State University students who were left wondering how much money they’d receive for the coming school year, reports CalMatters’ Mikhail Zinshteyn.

Returning students typically learn their financial aid amounts between May and June. But this year — due to a change by the U.S. Office of Federal Student Aid to protect against fraud — Cal State received information on how much aid students would receive up to six weeks later than usual.

Some students didn’t find out what their aid amounts were days before the start of the school year or until after the deadline to pay tuition.

April Grommo, an assistant vice chancellor at Cal State’s Chancellor’s Office, said it “is very unusual” that this happened in the middle of the financial aid cycle. To avoid further confusion, Grommo advised students to keep in close contact with their school’s financial aid office and open school emails.

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Federal immigration enforcement agents may have to change the way they carry out raids if a federal judge sides with plaintiffs in an ongoing lawsuit stemming from last year’s Southern California sweeps, write CalMatters’ Wendy Fry and Sergio Olmos.

In a tentative ruling Thursday, U.S. District Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong appears poised to order agents to stop making warrantless arrests in Los Angeles if they haven’t assessed a person’s flight risk. If the ruling is finalized, she would be at least the fifth federal judge to block the administration’s practice of detaining people without knowing their immigration history.

Last month, attorneys representing immigrants caught up in the L.A. raids submitted court filings that included text messages and body cam footage showing federal agents using racial slurs to identify targets in the sweeps. They argued the evidence showed immigration agents detained people who looked Latino. 

Federal officials defended the practice in depositions, arguing that a “self-admission of alienage” justifies a warrantless arrest.

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Bad news bears: State lawmakers spiked a bill Thursday that could have helped reintroduce grizzly bears to California. Though animal welfare groups backed the proposal, ranchers and hunters opposed bringing back the apex predator to the state. Read more from CalMattes’ Ryan Sabalow.