The Shared Habitat Alliance for Recreational Enhancement (SHARE) is a program that is run through the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and provides public access for hunting, fishing, and other recreational activities on private land. The program provides economic incentives and liability protection to landowners who provide public access opportunities.
The SHARE Program is looking to increase the number of waterfowl hunting opportunities in the Sacramento Valley and is interested in partnering with more rice farmers. The SHARE Program will pay farmers to lease rice blinds, provide liability coverage, and handle all the access coordination.
Incentive rates vary based on the number of opportunities that are provided (e.g., how many hunters per day can be accommodated), and SHARE payments can be made in addition to any conservation program that already pays for winter rice flooding (e.g., California Winter Rice Habitat Incentive Program). To be eligible for this program, there are two main requirements. First, hunters should be allowed to hunt the entire day and hunt days must be restricted to three days per week (Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday). Second, to ensure hunter safety and improve hunter success, landowners may not enroll more than one blind per 40 acres.
Below are examples of possible payment rates for a 4-man blind.
- 4-man blind with restricted hunting on Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday:
- $5,600 (allow hunting from Dec 1 – Jan 31)
- $7,000 (allow hunting from Nov 15 – Jan 31)
- $7,800 (allow hunting from Nov 15 – Jan 31 and late season hunts)
The SHARE program can accept a variety of different scenarios for waterfowl hunts and payments will vary depending on the amount of public access that is provided.
We encourage folks to reach out if they are interested and questions can be directed to Victoria Barr, SHARE Wildlife Coordinator, Victoria.Barr@wildlife.ca.gov.
